


A Very Chrashley Life

by boom_butterfly_effect



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: A bunch of one shots, F/M, I posted this already but having them all separate was annoying me so those will be deleted, It’s also backdated so it may not get hits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 04:33:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 24,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29960985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boom_butterfly_effect/pseuds/boom_butterfly_effect
Relationships: Ashley Brown/Chris Hartley
Kudos: 2





	1. The Proposal

Ashley was sound asleep. She was dreaming of a future of her and Chris buying a house together. She knew while awake that it was a distant dream, after all they weren’t even married. She had this fear that one day Chris would wake up and not love her anymore. They had been through so much together, yet she always had that fear in the back of her mind.

In her dream, they bought a gorgeous home with a bit of land somewhere. Her dream self had become a best-selling author, instead of the substitute teacher she was now. Inside their house was decorated impeccably and there was the sound of little footsteps on the hardwood.

Chris and Ashley had been living in a one bedroom apartment in Redlands, California for about a year now. They had wanted to move far enough away from their parents that they wouldn’t pop in unexpectedly, plus Chris had gotten an unpaid internship at Esri while he worked at the local Albertsons.

Suddenly, Ashley woke up and felt, presumably Chris, grabbing her hand. She slightly opened her eyes and looked over at him, “What are you doing, babe?”

She noticed a glint as he slid something on her finger. She took her right hand, the hand he wasn’t holding, and wiped the sleep from her eyes. When she opened them wider, she noticed he had not only slid a ring on her finger, but it was an engagement ring.

“Chris. You’re kidding.”

“Ashley-”

“CHRIS. IS THIS SERIOUSLY HAPPENING RI-”

“I’m trying to be romantic and you’re ruining it, babe.”

Ashley bit her lip, nodding for him to continue.

“Ashley Elizabeth Brown, I have loved you for, pshh, since the day I met you? It just took a while to tell you. And now that I have I never want to stop saying it. I love you. And I want to spend the rest of my life showing you how much I love you. Will you do me the honor of being my wife?”

Her eyes had already begun to brim with tears as she looked over at him and nodded, “Of course I will!”

Ashley leaned over, caressing Chris’ cheek as she gave him a simple yet passionate kiss on the lips. Ashley giggled as Chris went to grab his phone, presumably to call his mom. 

Ashley grabbed his hand, “Wait.”

As much as she wanted to call everyone she knew, she also wanted to spend a moment where it was just her and Chris soaking in the news.

She snuggled into his chest, her left hand with its new jewelry glinting on his chest.

“How long do you think it would take for people to notice if we didn’t tell them?” She joked.

“I think Josh probably already knows and I didn’t even tell him. He has a sixth sense for us. It’s almost scary.”

“I do want to tell Nat,” she sighed, “and your mom! I’m sure she would start bragging to everyone at the nurses station. As for everyone else, I kinda wanna see if any of them notice.”

Chris nodded, “Sounds like a plan. Who first?”

“Lets call your mom.”

Chris leaned over and grabbed his phone from where it was charging. He FaceTimed his mom, Diana, hoping she would answer while she was at work.

As her face appeared on the screen, she looked worried, “Chris, honey. Are you ok?”

“Yeah mom, just sitting here with Ash.”

“Oh, hi Ashley! How are you doing sweetheart?”

Ashley wiped off some of the tears on her face and there was a gasp from the other end of the line.

“Christopher. Is that an _engagement ring_?!”

“Yes it is! He literally just proposed. We wanted you to be the first to know.”

Diana got quiet and then began to wipe off her face, “You guys have me crying at work. I had no idea you were even thinking of that Chris. We need to have dinner soon so I can see it in person.”

“We can plan something sometime this weekend, just let us know when you're off," Chris explained.

"I'm so happy I'm finally gonna have a daughter! I love you guys so much, but if I get caught on a call, I could get in big trouble. I'll text you though," Diana blew a kiss and hung up.

Ashley sighed. Diana was the mother she never had, and it made her happy to know that now she had her surrogate mother as a soon to be mother-in-law! Now it was time to tell Nat. She grabbed her phone and dialed her sister’s number. She put it on speaker phone.

“Hey Ash, what’s up?”

“You’re _never_ gonna guess what just happened,” Ashley said, her face lit up with a smile.

“At 8:30 in the morning when I expected you to be asleep, I have no idea.”

“Chris p-”

“He _didn’t_.”

“HE DID!” she squealed.

“Holy shit Ash! Congrats! I wouldn’t have picked a better guy than Chris.”

“Thanks Nat,” Chris piped in.

Natasha laughed, “Text me with all the details. I'll be out of town for the next few weeks meeting with potential suppliers, but when I get back, I expect to be involved in _all_ wedding planning events."

"No worries, I wouldn't even know where to start planning without you, Nat."

"Shit, I'm getting another call but congratulations. Love you. See you soon.”

After they hung up with her, they just sat there while Ashley admired the ring. He had done a job picking it out. She hadn’t really told him what she liked. 

“How did you know what to get?”

“I have my ways,” Chris smirked, “And maybe your Pinterest board was involved.”

Ashley rolled her eyes, “Of course.”

Chris’ phone began to buzz with a call from none other than Josh. 

Ashley laughed, “He really does.”

“So, Chris. Pop the ole question? Begin the journey to the ball and chain?”

“How the hell do you know about all this all the time?”

“Oh naive Chris. I’ve known you since elementary school. I know every one of your logins and I could see that you bought the ring yesterday.”

“What made you think it would today? Maybe I had a big plan to make it romantic.”

Josh clicked his teeth, “I _also_ know that you probably would be so excited and nervous that if you didn’t do it right away then you would accidentally blurt it out.”

Ashley snickered at that. Josh was very right. Chris had a habit of ruining surprises even when it wasn’t high stakes like being _engaged_. They were _engaged!_ It felt so surreal.

That night they had planned a game night with the Blackwood gang. As soon as Josh promised not to let everyone else know, Ashley got out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom.

She yelled out to Chris after looking in the mirror, “You could’ve waited until I looked presentable.”

“I think you look beautiful all the time, you know that,” he yelled back.

Ashley sighed. She slid the ring off her finger and set it on the counter before she started the water for her shower. She had just been given that and she didn’t want to ruin it within an hour of wearing it. As soon as she was clean, she put it back on her finger and couldn’t help but smile ear to ear. She was getting married to the love of her life.

As the day went on, she caught herself looking at it. It didn’t feel real and she felt like she needed to pinch herself because she was still asleep. Eventually it was time for the game night.

The first one to show up was Sam. When she knocked on the door, Chris went to get it.

“Good afternoon, welcome to the Hartley/Brown ultimate game night.”

Sam smiled, “Hello, Chris. I brought a bottle of wine that I felt best suited the dinner tonight.”

Ashley greeted Sam from the kitchen where she was preparing the salad part of the meal while the chicken that was going on top of it was still baking.

Sam walked into the kitchen, setting the bottle down, “I know you don’t drink, but you _know_ how Emily gets bitchy when she doesn’t have a glass with dinner.”

“Maybe if we’re lucky, she’ll drink a few glasses and then we’ll have _tipsy_ Em,” Chris laughed thinking about how much more competitive Emily would be if she was slightly inebriated.

When Ashley looked over at Sam, she couldn’t help but notice that Sam was glancing toward her hand, but she didn’t say anything. Perhaps it would be Sam who broke the news to everyone, but only time would tell. After all, she was the only one there so far.

Emily and Matt came together, which means they were probably on-again. They had been going through phases of being together, snuggling on couches at get-togethers, or cold stares from opposite ends of the room, with a tension that ended in passive-aggressive comments thrown around the room. Ashley breathed a sigh of relief that it was the former.

“Hey, Ash!” Matt said as he entered the small apartment, wrapping Ashley up in a big hug, lifting her off the ground.

Ashley giggled as he picked her up. This was a sign of affection they had come up with back in high school, before the large group of friends was formed. Yet, every time he lifted her small body off the ground, she was pleasantly surprised.

Emily simply walked past them, heading into the kitchen and setting her own bottle of wine beside the one Sam had brought.

“Sam, you have excellent taste,” Emily picked up Sam’s bottle, admiring the label.

“You can thank the simple google of what wine goes with salad.”

Emily and Sam took a seat in the living room as Matt put Ashley down. His eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of the sparkle on her hand. She could tell he wanted to ask about it, but she gave him a look to tell him to wait. He nodded, motioning that his lips were sealed. The oven beeped, alerting her to take out the chicken so she stepped away from the door and pulled out the pans. 

As she was cutting each chicken breast into smaller chunks to top the salad, there was another knock on the door. Chris answered it and Mike stood on the other side, a six pack in his hand. 

“Chris, my man. How’s the internship going?” 

“As good as it can be when I’m not getting paid,” Chris shrugged.

“Shit, yeah. How _are_ you making money?”

“Still slaving away at the Albertsons. _Living the dream_.”

Mike laughed, “As long as you have a good attitude about it.”

Mike went and sat the beer beside the bottles of wine and joined the girls sitting in the living room.

Chris joined Ash in the kitchen, whispering, “Do you think they noticed?”

“Sam and Matt have eyed it, but they didn’t say anything.”

Chris nodded, “Can I help you with the food?”

“Just grab the glasses and bowls out of the cabinets. Set them on the table so people can serve themselves.”

Chris walked to the other side of her and opened up the cupboard with the glasses in them.

“Boozers and losers, come get your drinks,” he said as he walked over and set them on the table beside the bottles.

Everyone got up, and made their way into the kitchen, continuing the conversations they had been having in the kitchen.

“All I’m saying is if you don’t want to get cancelled, don’t be a sleeze,” Sam said, rolling her eyes.

“Apparently that’s asking a lot for the big names in Hollywood,” Mike chimed in.

Chris sat the bowls down and Ashley stepped away from the food, allowing them to assemble their own salad. 

There was a knock on the door and Ashley yelled, “Come in!”

Jessica came in and waved at everyone.

“Jess, nice to see you decided to join us,” Mike said, grinning her direction.

Mike and Jess broke up for a while and did their own thing for a year. Jessica did cosmetology school and Mike tried to date this really sweet girl named Sarah, but they broke up and when Jess finished school, they got back together and were closer than ever. Guess distance does indeed make the heart grow fonder.

Everyone gathered their food and beverages and took a seat in the living room. For having such a small apartment, Ashley and Chris had done their best to accommodate when they had everyone over. On top of their sectional couch and nicer chair, they had gotten a few foldable chairs and opted to take those as to not inconvenience their guests.

As Sam took the first bite, she nodded, “I will never understand how you make such good salads. What’s your secret?”

“I make my dressing from scratch,” Ashley smiled.

Matt looked shocked, “Really? That’s awesome. Tastes great.”

“I’m glad you guys-”

Josh interrupts her sentence by barging through the door, “Party people!”

Chris didn’t even flinch, “Josh, you’re earlier than I expected!”

“Ha ha ha,” Josh mockingly laughed, “Has anyone noticed the-”

Ashley cleared her throat, trying to get him to get the hint, blushing.

Sam nodded, “I knew it.”

“What?” Mike said, oblivious.

Matt answered, “They’re engaged.”

“Wait,” Emily turned her attention from Matt to Ashley, “Are you really?”

“Guilty as charged.”

Ashley held out her hand to show off the twinkling diamond on her hand.

"It's gorgeous, Ash. Not really _my style,_ but still a gorgeous diamond," Jessica admired. It was only a matter of time before Jess and Mike followed suit in getting engaged.

"How'd you do it?" Josh asked, cracking open one of the beers Mike brought.

"Well she was asleep," Chris started, "and I had seen it in some romance movie that the guy just slips the ring onto the girl's finger so they immediately see it when they wake up. Well she woke up in the middle of me trying to put it on, so that didn't go as smooth as the movie-"

"-But it was just as romantic," Ashley smiled.

Sam awed, "Well I know I speak for all of us that I'm happy for you, and I can't believe you guys beat the rest of us for getting married."

Josh laughed, "You could always marry me, Sam"

"Thanks, but no thanks. You're like my brother."

"Your loss," Josh shrugged as the rest of them continued eating.

Now that the news was out in the open, it felt like a weight came off of Ashley's shoulder. As they were putting the dishes up, Emily pulled Ashley aside.

“I know I’ve been kinda distant recently,” Emily began, “But I got hired onto this wedding planning company. I’m not saying you need to hire me or anything, but I would really like to help you and Chris out. Free of charge. Since I have all the connections.”

Ashley smiled, shocked, “You’re kidding. You would really do that for me?”

“It’s the least I can do. You could’ve easily hated me when I was a bitch to you. Or when I broke up with Matt over and over…”

“Em,” Ashley gave Emily a hug. 

Matt walked over to the two of them embracing, “My girlfriend and my best friend hugging. Everything is right in the world.”

Ashley laughed, “Your girlfriend just offered to help me and Chris plan our wedding.”

“Wait, really Em?” Matt seemed shocked at Emily’s generosity.

Emily rolled her eyes at him, “You have _so_ much faith in me being a good person, don’t you.”

“That’s not what I was saying,” Matt said defensively.

As the two of them bickered, Ashley slowly backed away to tell Chris the good news.

“There’s my lovely fiancee,” Chris said, putting his arm around Ashley’s shoulders.

Ashley hugged Chris before looking up at him, “Emily offered to help us plan the wedding.”

“Really? That’s great!” Chris smiled before looking over at Em.

Slowly, people left, leaving Chris and Ashley alone once again.

“This has been such a great day, Chris. Honestly. It still feels like I’m dreaming.”

Chris grabbed her in a hug from behind, “Well you aren’t. You and I are gonna get married someday. Knowing Em, she’ll wanna get everything perfect since she doesn’t have wedding bells in sight for herself.”

“Maybe that's for the best,” Ashley sighed, “them not getting married, ya know?”

Chris shrugged and yawned, “It’s none of our business. No matter how much we care about them, it’s not up to us.”

Ashley yawned as well, “I guess you’ve got a point.”

“Let’s just focus on two people who are going to get married, and live happily ever after.”

“Jess and Mike?” Ashley joked, and Chris did not look amused, “I know. You and me. We’ve got time to think about you and me. Right now? I’m going to sleep. So you can come with me and we can cuddle o-”

“You know I can’t pass up on cuddling.”

Ashley and Chris fell asleep in Chris’ arms, happy because finally her dreams were becoming reality.


	2. 27 Dresses

Ashley, along with Emily and Natasha had spent the better part of 3 months meeting up and discussing wedding plans. Everything from what flowers would be in the bouquet, to how many people would be invited to what venue. 

They had come up with having a small venue so they could blame that on having only a handful of people there. Ashley had spent any free time she had scouring through David’s Bridal’s website and watching Say Yes To The Dress. So when it was time to go dress shopping, she was hyped up.

All of the girls came, along with Natasha and Diana, and of course, Josh to the small boutique that they wanted to start their search in. Nat had reached out to their mom, but didn’t get a response, as per usual. Ashley hadn’t seen her mom since right after her parents split. Her dad had gotten custody of Ash and Nat and moved them to LA while her mom stayed in Colorado. 

Ashley’s mom, Jennifer, had come to visit her and Nat about 6 months after they moved. She took them to a bowling alley/arcade, then went home and was never heard from again. According to the Facebook they found, she had gotten remarried and had 2 little boys, never mentioning she also had 2 daughters. 

As the gang walked into the store, a consultant rushed to greet them, “You must be Ashley, am I right?”

Ashley nodded and she continued, “I’m Linsdey and I’ll be helping you find the perfect dress for the big day! So tell me a little bit about your special someone.”

“His name is Chris. We were high school sweet-”

“Oh! Ms. Brown, you came!” Emily said as she turned to hear who had come through the front door.

“It’s Mrs. Reynolds now, but yes, I came.”

Ashley felt goosebumps on every inch of her body at the sound of her mother’s voice. She instinctively started to tear up. It had been 7 years since she heard that distinct accent that her mom had acquired from moving around a lot as a child. The tears were followed by a pit of rage in her stomach. She wanted so much to yell at her, but she was determined not to be _that bride_.

Ashley turned around, “Hi.”

“Ashbrown,” the former Mrs. Brown said, looking her daughter up and down, "You're all grown up."

The last time Jennifer had seen her, Ashley had barely hit puberty. Her face was a zitty mess. She had straight across bangs that she had done herself, and she had only mentioned Chris in passing as a friend she met at her new school.

Ashley swallowed hard. _Nobody_ called her that anymore because of the emotional scarring it had caused her, “Jen. You can call me Ashley or nothing at all.”

Jen looked like she had just been punched in the gut, “Sorry, _Ashley_.”

Sam couldn’t stand the tension in between them so she looked back at Lindsey who was waving them to an empty section of the store. 

“Fuck yeah!” Josh said, perhaps a bit too loud, taking Ashley’s hand in his, “Let’s go find you the perfect dress.”

The consultant led them to a trio of full length mirrors along with a couple couches and chairs across from it, “What kind of look are you going for? Just as a starting point for me to pull.”

“Actually,” Emily asked, “We were wondering if we could all go pick a dress that we think would suit Ashley.”

She looked shocked, “Oh, that’s totally fine! You can have a maximum of 7 dresses. Feel free to peruse the store and whenever everyone has picked their choices I’ll bring them in to you. Feel free to sit in the dressing room and I’ll be in there shortly.”

“Thanks.”

All 7 of the people Ashley brought along with her spread out into the store, searching for their idea of her perfect dress. Ashley went into the dressing room and sat while slowly, all 7 brought the consultant their choice in dresses.

There was a light knock at the dressing room door and Lindsey walked in with the first gown for her to try on. It was an a-line high-low cut with no train. It was strapless and had plenty of lace with a jeweled belt around the waist.

When Ashley came out of the room, everyone gasped. 

Sam smiled at her choice in dress, “What do you think?”

“It’s very pretty, Sam,” she said looking the dress up and down in the mirrors, “I like it a lot.”

Jessica piped in, “I can’t wait for you to see mine!”

Lindsey led Ashley back into the room and she put on the second dress. A sheath sequin dress that had long sleeves and was _overwhelmingly_ uncomfortable. She hated this dress, but she had no idea who gave her this, so she wanted to be polite. She came out of the room and it was silent.

“This one is,” she paused, seeing that her mom was tearing up at her in the dress, “interesting.”

“Oh honey you’re gonna be such a beautiful bride,” Jennifer said, dabbing the corners of her eyes with a tissue.

“I hate it,” Josh said. Emily nodded in agreement.

Sam agreed, “It’s not you.”

Jen looked offended, “Don’t you guys think I know my _own daughter_?”

That was it.

“Don’t you think your daughter is a different person after her mom abandoned her for _seven years_?!” Ashley asked vengefully.

Jen looked down at the ground, “You guys took off to _California_ without me. You can’t blame me for being hurt. It took me a long time to get used to not seeing my girls everyday, and then I met Joseph and we hit it off and things picked up and I guess I-”

“-Forgot about us?” Nat said, speaking for the first time since Jennifer got there.

“I-I didn’t forget about you guys. I just found it was easier to cope with not seeing you guys if I just didn’t think about it.”

“You could’ve come seen us,” Ashley said, crossing her arms.

Jen got defensive, “You _know_ I didn’t have the money for that. I didn’t even have the money to take care of you girls enough to keep you.”

“Just saying, a call or two would’ve been nice,” Nat rolled her eyes.

Ashley was done with this dress and her mom right about now, so she walked back to the room and Lindsey followed. The third dress was another a-line that was beaded on the top and had a tulle skirt that had a slit in the left leg up to her thigh. Ashley _really_ liked this dress.

She came strutting out of the room and when she got to the mirror, she started to cry at the sight of herself, “Guys, whoever picked this out, I love you.”

“You’re welcome,” Diana said, smiling ear to ear.

“Oh my God! Of course it was you,” Ashley ran and gave her a hug.

“Turn around,” Ashley did as she was told while Josh looked at the back of the dress, “Oh good, it’s a zipper. You _know_ Chris couldn’t handle complex buttons.”

“Who’s Chris?” Jen asked.

Ashley’s smile faded as she looked at her mother, “My fiance, mom.”

“I thought that guy was your fiance,” she pointed at Josh.

“The _fuck_?” Josh said, once again, too loud, “I’m her best friend.”

The consultant left and came back with a little bell. The type you would see in movies that people rang to get attention from their servants.

“At Whispering Willow, we ring this bell when we find our dress-”

Sam jokingly said, “Are you saying ‘yes to the dress’?”

Ashley giggled, looking around at the girls and Josh. Her mom looked disappointed that it wasn't her choice but she still looked proud. Ashley rang the bell, loudly.

“Hell yeah, I’m saying ‘yes to the dress’!” 

Everyone clapped before Ashley addressed everyone else, "Sorry I didn't get to try on everyone's dresses-"

"It's ok, Ash. That's _your_ dress!" Jessica said.

After getting redressed, Ashley set up the payment plan for it. Jennifer came up to her before she left.

“I hope you know I didn’t stop loving you.”

Ashley rolled her eyes, “What's done is done.”

“Will you at least let me come to your wedding? Or at least out to dinner so I can meet your fiance.”

Diana came up beside her and gave Ashley a side hug, “She could join us for dinner tomorrow night.”

Ashley gave Diana a pleading look, to which she whispered in her ear, “It’ll be fine, trust me.”

So with her dress ordered and plans for Chris to meet her mother, she left the bridal store and went home, annoyed that her “big day” could very easily become a nightmare with the presence of 1 person.


	3. Meet the Parents

The day that Ashley was supposed to have dinner with Chris, Diana, and her mother, she spent the morning looking at bridesmaid dresses with Sam and Jessica. They went into the local David’s Bridal where Emily assured them that they could find the color that matched the theme of the wedding.

“So basically, I want you guys to pick which dress you think will fit your body type, while still kinda matching the vibe from the wedding,” Ashley explained as they walked in the front doors.

“I can’t believe the people who were awkward teenagers and wouldn’t admit their feelings are the first of us to get married,” Sam laughed. 

“Gah, you guys were such a mess,” Jessica scoffed, “It’s a miracle, truly.”

They walked over to the half of the store that was full of colorful dresses and began to look through them. 

Jessica pulled out a dress and held it up to her body, “What do you think of this?”

“Hmm,” Ashley thought for a second, “I really think you need to try it on.”

“Are we allowed to do that?” Sam asked.

The lady behind the desk must’ve heard them and she walked over, “You can try things on, no problem.”

“There’s your answer,” Ashley replied.

“Feel free to use those rooms over there, and if you need any help, I’d be more than happy to assist.”

Ashley smiled, “Thanks.”

Jessica and Sam picked out a few more dresses to try on before heading over to put them on. Ashley sat outside the room, looking disheartened at her phone. When Jessica came out dressed in the first option, she sighed.

“What’s wrong, Ash?”

“I just wanted wedding planning to be happy, and my fucking-” Ashley could feel her face flushing as she spoke.

Sam came out and sat beside Ashley immediately, “Did something happen?”

“I have to go to dinner with my mom after this. When I was little I dreamt that my dad would walk me down the aisle and I would see my mom crying,” Ashley explained, “but my dad is an abusive drunk and my mom dropped out of my life and now that I’m getting married she just tries to show up like nothing happened?”

Sam put her arm around Ashley as Jessica spoke, “Look, Ash, you are the smartest, most badass woman I know and if you don’t want your mom to be involved in your life, or at least your wedding, you have to put your foot down or else these next few months are gonna be miserable-”

“-and you shouldn’t feel miserable. It’s your _wedding_ , Ash. To your best friend. I think you need to stand up to her. Let her know that this is _your_ life and she chose not to be a part of it a long time ago.”

Ashley nodded, taking a deep breath, “Thanks for the pep talk. I really needed that.”

“We would be _horrible_ bridesmaids if we didn’t help you stand up for yourself,” Sam said, giving Ashley a hug and standing up.

Jessica looked at herself in the mirror, “Now you can judge these dresses for me. Cause I think this one makes my boobs look really good, what do you think?”

Ashley looked the dress up and down. The dress was floor length and had a v-neck with a slit about knee high on the left leg, “It really does make your boobs look good. Let me see what else you have so I can have options.”

Sam stood up as Jessica walked in, “What about this one?”

Sam had on a short dress with an illusion lace top. Ashley quickly answered, “I love it. It looks amazing on you.”

Jessica came out in her second dress, a single shouldered floor length gown.

“I think it looks great on you, Jess,” Sam said, smiling.

“I love it,” Ashley said, “What do you think?”

Jessica stared at herself in the mirror for a while, doing a couple different poses.

“I think I’m gonna look so hot in your wedding that Mike might have to fight off all the dudes falling at my feet,” she laughed.

Ashley giggled, showing off her ring, “Maybe you need one of these. Works wonders.”

“Yeah right,” Jess scoffed, “We haven’t ever discussed getting married.”

“Maybe you should,” Sam suggested.

Ashley agreed, "You and Mike have been together a long time."

Jess shrugged and then went into the dressing room to change back into her regular clothes. Sam followed suit and the girls took their dresses to be ordered in the correct color and size.

Ashley sighed. She checked her phone one more time, hoping that her mom would’ve texted to cancel.

“Guess I gotta go put my foot down.”

Jessica and Sam gave her a hug and wished her the best as she went off to dinner. As she pulled into the parking lot, she noticed Chris’ car was already there. He had come straight from his internship and was still sitting in his car. She snapped a picture of him sitting there on his phone and sent it to him. He smiled at his phone and looked over and waved at her.

They got out of their respective cars and met at the front door to the Olive Garden.

“You look beautiful,” Chris said, kissing Ashley.

Ashley sighed, “Let’s just get this over with.”

The two of them walked into the restaurant and got a table for the four of them. 

As Diana walks in, Ashley gets up to hug her, “I really hope this isn’t a total disaster.”

“We’re right here for you, don’t worry.”

Jennifer comes in, smiling at Ashley, “Hey guys!”

Chris stands up to greet her, “Hi.”

“Connor, right? I’m Ashley’s mom, Jen.” She said, holding out her hand.

He took a deep breath, looking over at Ashley who was already embarrassed, before replying, “Chris Hartley. Ashley’s fiance, but you knew that already.”

“Chris, Connor, same thing. I knew it started with a ‘C’.”

Chris took a seat next to Ashley and put his hand on her thigh, rubbing it. He always did this when he knew he was stressed, or when he was stressed himself.

“So Chris, tell me about yourself,” Ashley took a deep breath, attempting to keep calm.

“Um- well I’m almost twenty-three in a couple weeks. I work as a manager at Albertsons for an income with an internship at a tech company which I’m hoping will land me a job there. As I’m sure you know, me and Ashley met freshman year of high school and started dating 2 years later and have been dating forever.”

Ashley is looking over at Chris as he talks and then her mom kicks her under the table and mouths, “Really?”

Ashley scowls at her mom.

Diana must’ve seen her look cause she changed the topic, “So who are you guys having as your maid of honor and best man?”

“Well Natasha is my maid of honor,” Ashley said.

Chris nodded, “And Josh is my best man.”

Jennifer inquired, “And who will be walking you down the aisle? Your father I’m presuming?”  
“No, actually, Diana will be walking me down the aisle.”

Diana looked shocked, “Wait, really?”

“I can’t imagine this ‘Diana’ person can replace your own flesh and blood.”

Ashley looked at Chris for comfort before responding, “Well Diana was always there for me after starting high school. She comforted me whenever my _mom_ stopped talking to me and helped me get ready for every school dance and threw me birthday parties every year. And when I told her I was marrying her son, she started crying in the middle of work because I had already been like her daughter all these years and now I actually was going to be.”

Diana wiped a few tears from her face and Jennifer looked over at her, “Ash, you have no idea how much that means to me. I couldn’t have asked for someone better to marry Chris.”

Jen looked annoyed, “I guess I just can’t believe you would pick her over one of your parents.”

“Well dad started drinking and hit me so I ended up moving out. And you only came back once I had already had come to terms with having lost both of my parents. I was doing _good_. Now you waltz back in and suddenly I’m supposed to invite you to walk me down the aisle? It doesn’t work like that. You _abandoned_ me and Nat, like we didn’t need a mother. So if you’re going to continue to make what is supposed to be a happy time for me into a nightmare, please leave.”

“I-,” Jennifer started, but instead of getting defensive, she grabbed her purse and stood up and walked out.

Ashley grabbed Chris’ hand and took a shaky breath.

“It’s over, Ash.”

Ashley’s eyes filled with tears and she looked over at Diana.

“I told you it would be fine.”

It felt like a weight had come off Ashley’s shoulders. Now her attention could go undivided to her wedding.


	4. What Happens in Vegas

A week had passed since Ashley’s mom had walked out of her life, hopefully for good. Her and Chris were cuddled up on the couch watching TV when her phone rang and it was a FaceTime from Jessica. Ashley motioned for Chris to pause the show as she hit the accept button.

“Ash! Are you alone?”

“Chris is here. We were just watching Big Little Lies, have you caught up on it?”

Jessica shook her head, “I kinda just need to talk to you...alone.”

Ashley stood up and walked out to the balcony of their apartment, “What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you want to come on a weekend trip with me.”

Ashley looked confused, she noticed Jessica looked disheveled. Her eyes were all puffy and red. Had she been crying?

“When were you thinking?”

“This weekend.”

Ashley’s eyes widened, “ _This_ weekend? You know it’s Thursday, right?”

“Matt said the same thing,” Jessica mumbled.

“So Matt is coming too?”

“Yeah. It’s been awhile since we did things all together. Tiny needs her sparkle bitches.”

Ashley laughed at the use of their old nickname from high school, “When you put it that way, I can’t say no. Is Matt on board?”

“Yeah. We leave tomorrow afternoon.”

Ashley sighed, “I’ll be ready.”

When Ashley hung up, she walked back inside and Chris looked up at her, “What did she want?”

“She wants me and Matt to go on a weekend trip with her.”

“When?”

“This weekend. I gotta go pack,” Ashley started toward the bedroom and Chris got up and followed her.

“You’re just gonna drop everything and go?”

“It’s complicated. She seemed upset.”

Chris was confused, “I don’t understand why that means you have to go to- where are you going?”

“She didn’t say. You would do the exact same thing for Josh. I’m sorry to leave you, but this is just something that's important to me.”

Chris walked over to her and kissed the top of her head, “It’s ok, Ash. Just promise to stay safe, ok?”

Ashley nodded, “I will.”

The next morning, Jessica texted Ashley to come down to the car, so she grabbed her bag and sent Chris a text letting her know she was leaving. When she got there, Mike was also in the car and she was very confused so she got in the backseat and peered into the passenger seat.

“I thought it was just gonna be the tiny and the sparkle bitches, no offense Mike.”

Mike looked incredulous, “Did you just say sparkle bitches?”

Jessica ignored him and responded, “There’s a reason he’s here, but I wanted to wait until we were all here to explain.”

Ashley sat back and put on her seatbelt, “Ok then, let’s go.”

Mike pulled out of her apartment complex and over to the duplex where Matt lived. As he came out of the front door, he made the same face Ashley had upon seeing Mike. He got in the car and looked over at Ashley and then at Jessica.

“So what was the emergency that required this last minute trip?” Matt asked.

Ashley followed that with, “And where are we going?” 

“Vegas!” Jessica said, looking back at them.

“ _Vegas?_ ” Matt and Ashley said in unison.

Jessica nodded and Matt laughed, “Is that why Mike is here? You two eloping?”

When neither of them responded, Ashley asked, “You’re actually taking us to Vegas so you can get married?”

Mike looked over at Jessica, “Do they not know?”

“Know what?”

She bit her lip, “I’m kinda…”

“Pregnant,” Ashley sighed before chuckling, “No wonder your boobs looked great in those dresses.”

Jessica rolled her eyes, “I told my mom and she went off on me and told me I better marry that boy or I’m a disgrace to the family. What better way than Vegas?”

“Mike? What do you think of this?” Matt asked.

“I’m excited,” Mike replied, “A bit overwhelmed. It has been a long 24 hours.”

Ashley nodded, “I can imagine. Well, let’s get you guys married.”

They started the road trip to Vegas, listening to music and singing along, loudly.

“So are you going to explain the sparkle bitches thing?” Mike asked.

In response, Jessica turned up the music louder and the 3 of them belted along to One Direction. Mike sighed and started to sing along.

When they pulled up on the Vegas strip, the sun was going down and the lights were coming on. Jessica got really quiet and Matt was the first to notice.

He put his hand on her arm and rubbed it, “Are you doing ok, Jess?”

She shook her head and put her face in her hands, “This is not how I expected things to go. I always pictured a beautiful wedding with you guys at my side and then kids that could grow up with yours.”

“You can still have the wedding of your dreams someday, you’ll just have a little addition to your wedding party.”

Mike put his hand on Jessica’s leg, “I promise there will be a real wedding, not just a Vegas one.”

The group pulled up to the hotel and filed inside. Mike and Jess got a room and to save money, Matt and Ashley got a room. They went up to their respective rooms, but soon, Jessica came knocking on Ashley’s room.

“I need your help,” she said, frantically walking into the room.

Matt sat up on his bed and turned his attention to her, “With what?”

“Well, I was telling Mike how I wanted this day to be a little more special than just an obligatory ‘I got knocked up so I quickly got married so nobody would think I’m a whore’ wedding.”

Ashley nodded along, hesitantly, “Are you looking for ideas?”

“Please.”

The three of them sat there thinking for a second until Matt came up with an idea, “Vows?”

Jessica’s face lit up, “Yes! Perfect!”

She pulled out her phone and texted the idea to Mike.

“Ok, he’s down, but first things first, what do I write in my vows?”

Ashley laughed and Matt shook his head, “I think that’s something you need to do on your own.”

Jess sighed, “Please? I might need Ashley’s poetic skills.”

“Sure,” Ashley shrugged, “Can’t promise I’ll be able to help.”

The next 2 hours, Jessica and Mike spent writing out their vows in their respective rooms. It was getting later so they decided that what they had would have to suffice and so Jess went to get changed into her “wedding dress” and they met outside.

Ashley noticed Jessica had put on a dress that looked oddly familiar. It was a short white dress with little bedazzled jewels all the top.

“Is that your homecoming dress?”

Jessica looked at Mike smiling, “See, I knew they’d notice. This was the most iconic look I wore to a school dance, which happened to be-”

“-the first time you went with me,” Mike finished her sentence.

Matt mockingly awed, “Highschool sweethearts getting hitched in a Vegas chapel. How lovely.”

Once they obtained their wedding license, they headed to the church and paid for their ceremony and waited for it to begin. Mike and Ashley stood up front as Matt walked Jessica down the aisle, she was already crying.

When they reached the front, Matt put his hands on Jess’ shoulders and they took a deep breath together to calm her nerves. She wiped away the tears from her face and looked at Mike.

The ceremony began with the officiant talking and then it was time for the vows.

“We wrote our own,” they explained.

“Oh, that’s no problem. Mike, why don’t you start us off.”

Mike pulled up the vows on his phone and cleared his throat, “Jessica Prudence Riley.”

Jessica sighed and Ashley tried her best to not bust out laughing at Jess’ middle name.

“When I met you, I honestly didn’t think I’d be up here. I have been told that in high school I was a tool.”

“He was,” Matt mumbled and Ashley nudged him to stop.

“I wasn’t the type to stay in a relationship longer than a few months, but when I met you, something just switched in my brain. I became a nicer person, and I cared about you a lot more than I had with anyone else. But being an adult and trying to figure out what we wanted out of life grew us apart. It was in that year that we separated that I was like, ‘fuck, I like _really_ love her’. I missed your laugh. I missed singing along to One Direction in the car. I missed how happy you made me. Love had always been a word I said to convince girls to sleep with me, but you showed me what I meant to actually feel it. I knew when we got back together that this was it, I had bought you this.”

Mike reached into his pocket and produced a ring box and opened it up. Jessica gasped, covering her mouth, “Every time I planned to give it to you, something would come up. I carried this around with me, waiting for the ‘perfect time’. Now our little life gave me the perfect time. I love you Jess, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

He slid the ring onto her finger and lightly touched her stomach, “and with our growing little family.”

“Michael Mitchel Munroe. I was a nerdy cheerleader when I first formed a crush on you. I faked that I was super confident about myself, and I had my share of guys who only wanted me for the persona I gave off. Or my ass. Sometimes both. It felt like a fairytale to have the hottest guy in school even look in my direction. When we started dating, I fantasized about this day- well not this day, but us getting married- you know what I mean.”

She was getting nervous, so Ashley whispered, “Take your time.”

Jess nodded in response, “That insecure part of me didn’t think I was good enough for you to settle down with. I always thought one day I would wake up and you would find someone who was better than me, because just look at you, you could get _any_ girl you wanted.”

“Thanks, babe.”

“I was _terrified_ to tell you about the baby and have you take off, but hearing you say all that- I just,” she choked up and had a few tears come down her face, “I love you so much. Thank you for being my fairytale come true.”

Ashley found herself getting emotional. In a few months it would be her time to tell Chris how much she loved him. Her turn to make everyone emotional with her vows. It was becoming real.

“I now pronounce you, man and wife. You may kiss your bride.”

The two of them kissed while Ashley and Matt clapped. The next few days were filled with gambling and enjoying the quality time with Jessica and Matt. The countdown began to her wedding. 4 months and 5 days and it couldn’t come soon enough.


	5. Juno

Over the next 2 months, Jessica and Mike had been keeping a low profile from everyone else. They had made the decision to not let everyone know until she was out of the dangerous window of the first trimester. Ashley and Matt had promised to keep their secrets until they were ready. Jess started showing pretty early so all of her beach pictures were selfies or while she was carrying something to block her growing baby bump.

Suddenly it was August and it was time to tell the rest of the bunch. It just so happened to be Ashley’s birthday so they decided to plan a small party with the Blackwood gang. Matt offered to host a barbeque so on the day of, Ashley and Chris made their way over to his duplex with number balloons corresponding to her age. Matt and Emily had split and Matt had started dating a girl named Alexis, who was there when they arrived. They hadn’t seen much of her being on summer vacations amongst the bunch.

“Ashley, happy birthday!” Alexis said, smiling at her when she came in.

“Thanks Lex,” Ashley looked around but Matt wasn’t around, “Where’s Matt?”

“He’s out back, firing up the grill.”

Chris stayed inside talking to Lexie as Ashley walked outside, “Everything going good? We don’t need to order pizza?”

“Looks promising. I think I’ve got enough charcoal for today, how are you?”

Ashley smiled, “I’m excited to not be hush hush anymore. Plus I get presents? A win win.”

Matt chuckled, “Presents are always great.”

“I think I heard the doorbell, better see who it is,” Ashley said, walking away.

Chris had already answered it when she walked back inside. Josh had shown up way earlier than he ever usually did.

“Ash, congrats about surviving another trip around the sun,” Josh said, giving her a hug.

“You’re here early.”

Josh looked at the time, “I thought it said it started at 5. It's 5:30.”

“Starts at 6, but it’s a good present that you get to see me more.”

“Maybe I did that on purpose, and you’ll never know.”

Ashley shook her head and laughed, “We should get a picture in front of the numbers.”

“You have number balloons? God, Ash, you’re such a white girl.”

“And you love me all the same.”

Josh and Ashley walked over to the balloons they had set up and Chris took their picture. Alexis suggested all 3 of them hop in a pic so she snapped one. 

Afterwards, once Alexis went to talk to Matt, Josh looked at Chris, “Are we supposed to know who that is?”

“That’s Matt’s new girl. He and Em had a really nasty breakup,” Ashley answered.

“Hopefully this time it’ll stick.”

Chris shrugged, “Emily has been working a lot so she probably hasn’t even noticed that he moved on.”

Closer to 6, Sam showed up, “Happy Birthday, Ash.”

“Thanks Sam.”

Sam gave her a hug and took a seat on the couch and talked amongst the rest of them. Matt came in to socialize right as Emily came in. There was an awkward glance between them until Ashley walked up to her.

“Em, glad you could make it,” Ashley smiled at her.

Emily was still making eye contact with Matt. Where as usually she would be scouring at him, they were half-smiling. Josh and Chris noticed and were talking about it. Matt broke the eye contact when Alexis walked up to him.

“Hey. Happy Birthday,” Emily said, holding up her present.

Ashley motioned for the counter where the rest of the presents were, “Over there is fine.”

Emily headed over and put her present down. Ashley walked over to where Matt and Alexis were standing.

“You could start the grill,” Ashley felt as her phone buzzed with a text from Jessica, “Actually, nevermind. Let’s go take a seat with everyone else.”

Matt nodded, knowingly, taking a seat with Alexis. When the doorbell rang, Ashley walked over to get the door. Jessica, with a growing bump and a t-shirt that Ashley had brought up the idea for as a joke. It said, “Blackwood baby coming February 2020”. She smiled nervously at Ashley.

“Are you ready?” Ashley asked, smiling at Jessica.

Mike put his arm around Jessica, “We’re more than ready.”

Ashley let them inside and at first people hadn’t even registered that they had come in.

Josh looked over and waved, “Way to be late to the party, that’s supposed to be _my_ job.”

Chris and Sam laughed a little, but when Sam looked over at Jess, her eyes widened. 

“You ok, Sam?” Chris asked.

“Jessica, come take my seat,” Sam said standing up.

Emily, who was looking at her phone, looked up confused at Sam giving up her seat. As Jess walked over to sit down, Josh looked at Jessica closer and his eyebrows furrowed.

“Miss Riley, do my eyes deceive me or are you growing a small human?”

Everyone else who hadn’t been paying attention looked up and gasped at the text printed on the shirt. 

“It’s um,” Jessica said, looking to Ashley for support, “It’s Mrs. Munroe.”

“Wait, what the fuck?” Josh asked.

Emily scoffed, “So over the summer you not only got pregnant, but married too? And somehow nobody knew?”

Mike nodded, “Well, 2 people knew. _Someone_ had to come with us to Vegas.”

Chris looked at Ashley and Matt, who were smiling. Everyone else looked over at the two of them. 

“ _Of course_ you went to Vegas,” Josh nodded.

As everyone continued talking about the baby news and asking for the story about Vegas, Matt cooked the burgers, hot dogs, and veggie burgers for Sam. The rest of the day went by pretty quickly, as did the next month.

Ashley was given the responsibility of coming along with Jessica to her checkup and take the paper with the gender of the baby in order to host the gender reveal.

As the technician ran the ultrasound over Jess’ bump and Ashley could see the baby, she felt herself tear up. This was a real baby inside of one of her closest friends. When she heard the heartbeat she looked over at Jessica who was smiling at her. 

“It’s crazy, right?”

“You’re gonna be a mom, Jess!”

Mike laughed, “That’s kinda how it works.”

Jessica and Mike looked away while the lady showed Jess the sonogram to Ashley before printing and writing down the gender. Ashley was smiling ear to ear as she left. The party was one week from them, and it was time to create a party to remember.

Melinda Washington offered to host the party, citing that “who knows when Josh would give them a grandchild”. Sam and Ashley bought a ton of blue and pink balloons and laid them around the backyard. They set up a big canvas that Sam had painted “blue or pink?” onto. Ashley said she would explain the idea when everyone got here.

Matt showed up wearing a pink shirt with baked goods in tow, “Is it really a sparkle bitch party without all kinds of cookies and cupcakes baked by yours truly and decorated by Jessica?”

Ashley laughed, “No, it is not.”

Jessica followed behind him, wearing a blue sundress, “Baby mama is here, time to party.”

“It would be a bad party if it was just the 4 of us,” Mike followed her in wearing a blue shirt with pink pants.

“Do you not want to guess what your unborn child is?” Ashley pointed out his outfit.

“I mean, I’m bound to be right either way,” Mike said smirking, but after seeing Ashley roll her eyes, he continued, “I’m going to guess it’s a boy.”

“He just wants someone to fill the stereotype of teaching his son to play baseball like he did.”

The two of them made their way out into the backyard and Jessica awed, “Ash, you didn’t have to go all out, I mean look at all these balloons!”

“That was mainly me,” Sam said, emerging from the backdoor that led into a different part of the house.

“It looks great, Sam,” Mike nodded, “Do _you_ know what it is?”

Sam shook her head and motioned to the pink dress she had on, “I wouldn’t be wearing a color if I knew.”

Ashley explained, “Which is why I’m impartially wearing black, although it's hotter today then I planned so maybe this wasn’t the _most_ thought out plan.”

Chris and Josh came through the back door, both wearing blue, “Hey, Ash.”

“The life of the party has arrived!” Josh announced.

Melinda came outside at the sound of Josh’s voice, “Joshua, won’t you do me a favor and help me carry out the presents that we got for Jessica.”

Josh sighed, “As long as you promise to stop calling me Joshua.”

“That is the name I gave you and that is the name I will call you.”

“Damn,” Mike looked pitiful in his direction as he walked away, defeated, “He’s what- like 23? 24? And his mom still treats him like he’s a little kid. That’s fucked up.”

Josh came out carrying what was easily wrapped presents. Jessica looked shocked at Melinda who was following with a handful of bags.

“Mrs. Washington, you didn’t have to get us anything.”

After setting the bags down she came over to where Jess was standing, “Darling that’s the least we could do. We want to make things as easy as we can for you and your little one.”

She gently placed a hand on Jessica’s stomach before heading back inside. Josh rolled his eyes and Jess cringed, “Does every stranger think it’s ok to just touch you? Cause that’s not gonna fly.”

“As far as the YouTube hole I went in looking for ideas for the reveal is concerned, that’s a big problem with people. They think they can touch your belly, and then your baby just because they see it.”

“I swear to God, if some random person comes up and touches the baby, I may just slap them. Why would you do that? It’s not your kid!” Jess asked, frustrated.

Ashley shrugged. Emily walked in wearing a white shirt and pale pink skirt, “Wow, you guys actually did a good job setting up.”

Sam replied, “I can’t tell if that’s a compliment or an insult.”

“It’s a compliment,” Emily said, still not convincing anyone.

Melinda came back out of the house, smiling, “That’s everyone, correct?”

Ashley looked around before asking Matt, “No girlfriend today?”

“She had to work,” Matt shook his head.

“Then yes, would you like to say a word before we continue guys?”

Mike and Jess walked toward the canvas and looked back at everyone else, “We just wanted to say that we wouldn’t be confident in our ability to not fuck up this child’s life without you guys. So thank you for pledging to help us be better parents.”

“I didn’t-” Josh started but Ashley cut him off.

"Okay!" She came out with a bunch of what looked like normal black balloons in a bucket, setting it beside the two of them, “So this is how it works. As you probably noticed, there’s a big canvas over there. What’s gonna happen is that most of these are filled with black paint, but one of them is filled with either pink or blue. Throw them at the canvas to break them open and eventually you’ll find the answer. Good luck guys.”

Everyone cheered them on as they threw every balloon in the bucket and they all were black. When they threw the last one, everyone was confused and looking at Ashley, who was laughing as she pulled out two more. 

“This is it. Make it count,” she handed them to Mike and Jess.

“Drumroll please,” Mike said and everyone patted their legs.

The two of them at once threw their balloons on the canvas and colored paint came out.

“It’s a girl!” Mike yelled, jumping up and down.

Jess started crying as she rubbed her stomach, “I’m having a daughter. Oh my God.”

Everyone cheered. The girls formed a group hug around Jess while Mike ran around giving everyone high fives.

“Mike is gonna be the dad that threatens his daughter’s boyfriends with his gun,” Josh laughed.

Mike nodded, “Especially if the boyfriend is anything like I was in high school.”

The rest of the party went by without a hitch, they opened enough diapers and onesies for months. 

Ashley left with Chris, taking his hand and joking, “When is it our turn?”

“Let’s get the wedding over with first.”


	6. Bridesmaids

_October 12, 2019_ ; the day that Ashley was most excited about was now one day away. Emily had planned and triple checked everything leading up to the day. Ashley hadn’t texted Chris hardly at all, which made her anxious, but there was a lot to do the day before her wedding and she was busy making sure everything was perfect. After all, you only get one of these.

First things first, Emily came over to the Washington mansion where the girls were staying the night before. Josh had gotten permission from his parents since they were going to be out of town. None of the girls were due to come until later, so Ashley had time to prepare. Emily had the dresses in tow, along with robes that had the girls names on them. She hung the dresses in the bonus room.

Ashley assisted her bring them in along with the baskets that Ashley decided to make for each of the girls and guys. Inside would be items that each person liked, wanted, or needed along with a handwritten note that was filled with memories they shared. She took the fancy paper that Emily had bought and started off with writing the notes, including one for Chris to read. They had decided to write a note for each other to read while they were getting ready for the wedding.

Next, Ashley went out to buy the items for the baskets. For Josh, she bought lemon heads and Warheads along with a bottle of his favorite rum. Mike got gummi bears, and a set of earplugs. For Matt, a family size bag of Skittles, MnMs, and a big box of Hot Tamales. 

Jessica got a ferrero rochers, a bag of cool ranch Doritos, and a onesie that had a cow on it that said, “sorry I’m a bit MOOdy today”. For Sam she got rice cakes, dried fruit, and a gift card to Trader Joe’s. Nat got a 3 pack of cinnamon gum, a bag of cheeto puffs, and a new phone charger. She even got things for Emily, an atomic fireball, a face mask, and polaroid paper.

She went back to the empty mansion and put things into baskets while listening to the wedding playlist that Sam made for her. She assembled every basket to be perfect and took the girl’s baskets to the bonus room where the dresses were. She stood there, taking in the fact she was actually getting married. It wasn’t a dream, although it sure had been magical putting things into plan to make this day thanks to Emily.

She shut the door to that room and laid the boy’s baskets on the table so that Emily could take them over later on. Ashley looked at the time on her phone when Natasha texted that the girls were outside. She opened the front door and they came walking up. Nat and Sam had their hands full with bags presumably of makeup and and hair tools.

Jessica only had a bag from Taco Bell in hers, “I had a craving. Don’t worry I got you food too. We figured you hadn't eaten today.”

After they came and sat their stuff down, Ashley turned on the TV and put in the DVD of the movie they were watching first, “Father of the Bride”, one of Ashley’s favorites and as it would happen, very fitting. Everyone cuddled up on the couch.

“I _cannot_ understand why you _pick_ to eat that _garbage_ ,” Sam said, scrunching her face up as she watched Jessica take a bite of her quesarito.

“It’s good,” she muffled in response.

Ashley looked over at Jessica, “I don’t know what _she’s_ eating, but my taco is pretty good.”

Sam shook her head and turned her attention toward the movie. When the wedding scene came up, Ashley could feel herself getting emotional. Sam grabbed the box of tissues they had on the coffee table and handed it to Ashley.

“Guys. I’m getting _married_ tomorrow.”

“I would hope so. I wouldn’t have spent all that money on a dress for a girls night out,” Sam joked.

Jessica chuckled, “I need you to get quick on that baby making so that she has a friend.”

“I don’t think we’ll have any problem with that,” Ashley winked.

“Especially if you wear something _spicy_ under that dress," Nat added.

The four of them laughed, occasionally breaking into conversation about the plot. As the credit rolled, Sam reached into her bag.

“For the second movie, we need face masks.”

Ashley got up and put in “Father of the Bride: Part 2” because she was dedicated to watching them both together as often as she could. As the opening monologue happened on the screen, Sam put masks on all of them.

“I don’t think I knew there was a second one,” Jessica noted as the movie started.

Ashley and Nat gave each other a knowing smile, “I think you’ll like it.”

Part way through the movie, Jessica looked over at Ashley, “I say for my next kid we do it together.”

“You’re already thinking about another?” Natasha asked.

“I mean, some day, yeah.”

“I think I’d be cool to have our babies together, but you gotta focus on this one first.”

Jessica shrugged in response, and when the movie was coming to the end and the babies were being born, she started to cry. Ashley wrapped her arm around her.

“Do you guys think I’ll be a good mom?”

“I think the fact you’re worried about being a good mom is a good start,” Sam said leaning in on her other side.

The movie ended and Ashley sighed, “That is the signal that it is time for us to go to bed. I love you guys so much.”

“I know I speak for us all when I say that we love you more. Get some sleep, you’ve got a big day ahead of you,” Nat said after standing up and offering Ashley a hand up.

Ashley took a deep breath as she made her way to her room. She picked Josh’s man cave that he had as a bedroom while the other 3 spread out amongst the guest bedrooms. She curled up in the comforter which she had crashed in several times in the past. After setting her alarm, she fell fast asleep.


	7. She's All That

Ashley’s alarm went off at 6:45 and at first she wanted to snooze it, but when she heard her door open, she registered what today was. She stretched and opened her eyes to see Natasha standing beside her bed.

“You ready to get this day started?”

Ashley smiled and nodded, “More than you know.”

Nat had gotten married a few years ago and moved to Bakersfield so the only times she saw her was when important things happened and occasionally birthdays. These days they had together planning for the wedding really meant a lot to her. Ashley climbed out of bed and Natasha gave her the robe that Ashley had gotten for everyone, embroidered with their names on them. Sam and Jessica were in the kitchen, the former of who was making breakfast for them all.

“Good morning, beautiful bride. What would you like for breakfast?”

“Something light. Don’t wanna be bloated in the dress,” Ashley answered.

Sam put the ingredients for pancakes into a blender and began to make Ashley’s favorite pancakes. She made two instead of the usual four or five that she usually ate. Nat had a plate of scrambled eggs and Jessica, who usually was one to skip breakfast and only drank iced coffee to hold her over to lunch, but with being pregnant, she had been eating a healthy breakfast. Sam had brought over vegan oatmeal and Jessica was on her second bowl.

Ashley took a bite of her pancakes and moaned, “These are so good, Sam. This is why whenever your restaurant takes off, I’m going to come there every single day.”

“My favorite customer already.”

An hour passed, eating and talking before they had to get ready. Ashley took a picture of them in their matching robes in the mirrors of the bonus room that was reminiscent of the days when Hannah attempted to be a ballerina.

When the girls walked in, they noticed the baskets Ashley had made sitting below their dresses.

“Hope you guys enjoy the little ‘thank you’ gifts.”

As they started to look through each of them, Jessica laughed, “Of course you got me a onesie with a pun on it.”

“Ash, this card is so sweet,” Sam stood up to give her a hug, “I’m so glad I could be a part of this big day with you.”

Nat saw the phone charger in hers and held it up toward Ashley, “How did you know I needed a new one?”

“You _always_ need a new one. I swear you go through those like crazy.”

The doorbell rang and Sam went to get it. The wedding photographer followed Sam into the bonus room.

“Ladies! How are we doing on this big day?” The photographer, who had a bag of camera gear and a tripod in her hands, asked.

Ashley giggled, “I don’t know about you guys but I am _so_ excited!!”

“You must be Ashley. Pam Baker. I’m here to make your day forever encapsulated through photographs,” she set her things down, “Basically I’m just gonna be snapping pictures of you all day. Just pretend I’m not here while you get ready.”

Diana must’ve let herself in because she walked into the bonus room and Ashley ran to give her a hug.

“I’m so glad you came. We were just about to start getting ready.”

“I’m glad I didn’t miss anything.”

Jessica had supplied them with her trunk full of hair and makeup supplies from her job.

“Take a seat.”

Sam went first, she wore her hair in a bob so Jess curled it and put it in a braid crown while Sam played the wedding playlist Ashley had listened to all day while she made the baskets. It consisted of a mix of songs that had significant meaning to Chris and Ashley, songs about weddings, and music that was going to be used during the ceremony or reception.

As Jessica finished with Sam’s hair and makeup, Ashley was dancing around the room to “Falling For You” by Colbie Caillat. Natasha was doing the same, but it was time for her to get ready. For her hair, she decided to put her long strawberry blonde hair into a low bun.

Ashley admired the way Sam’s hair had turned out, “Jess you’re so good at this.”

“I would hope so. A year of school and almost 2 year practice afterwards.”

“Has it really been that long?”

“I know,” Sam said, “The fact that you guys are getting married and having kids makes me feel weird because I still feel like we’re the same kids as we were in high school.”

“We’re growing up,” Ashley sighed.

Nat interrupted, “Enough with the existential crisis about time. This is your _wedding_ day! Not the time to be sad!”

Sam changed the song to something more upbeat. When Jessica finished Nat’s hair, she started to do her own, leaving Ashley for last. 

Emily peeked her head into the room, “Ash, just checking you guys are on schedule before I take the things to the boys.”

Ashley held up two thumbs up, “There’s a basket for you too. Just a thank you for being amazing during all this.”

Emily smiled, “Thanks, Ashley, that means a lot.”

Ashley checked the time. 10:30. She was supposed to get to the venue by noon for pictures. Chris and Ashley had opted for a “first look” so that they could get all the pictures done before the ceremony.

Jessica did her own hair and makeup faster than everyone else, and then it was time for Ashley. They had discussed this look for Ashley’s short hair where she would curl her hair and she would have a bedazzled barrette holding her bangs back. As she finished making Ashley’s hair and makeup ready, they all stood in front of the mirrors smiling as they looked between them. Ashley was trying hard not to start crying before they had even gotten dressed.

In their robes, they climbed into Emily’s SUV which was waiting outside for them, dresses in tow and headed over to the venue to do the finishing touches. They went into the bridal suite and Sam and Jessica put on their dresses, Sam wore the one she got that day and Jessica ended up getting the first dress she tried on once she found out she was pregnant since it was maternity friendly. They both were a mint green color, which was the main color of the wedding.

Ashley smiled at them, “You guys look so beautiful. Jess! Your bump is so cute!”

“It does look really good in this dress,” Jessica smiled, admiring how the dress fit her growing baby bump.

“How far along are you,” Pam said, snapping pictures of her.

“22 weeks. About halfway there. Do you have kids?”

She nodded, “One little boy.”

Nat had slipped on her dress and twirled. She wore a pale pink strapless high-low dress, “How do I look?”

“You look great, Nat. I guess it’s my turn now.”

Jessica stopped her from opening her garment bag, “First go put on this.”

She handed her a Victoria’s Secret bag and Ashley tried to refuse but they insisted. She went and put on the lacy set that Jessica had picked up for her. When she came back into the room, she was wrapped up in the robe once again.

"Let's see Chris' view tonight!"

As Ashley dropped the robe so she could put on the dress, Nat whistled and Diana, who had just come back from putting on her outfit laughed.

“I’m no longer worried about not having grandkids.”

Natasha laughed, “I _told_ you that being spicy under it all would make him all hot and bothered.”

Ashley shook her head, blushing, “Let’s just put on the dress.”

Diana helped her step into the gown, zipping it up and starting to cry, “My baby is getting married to _such_ a beautiful bride.”

Ashley looked at herself in the mirrors and began to tear up herself. Sam handed her a tissue that she used to dab her eyes so she wouldn’t ruin her makeup. Eventually everyone was attempting not to cry. 

Emily walked in holding an envelope with Ashley’s name written on it in Chris’ handwriting. She opened it and began to read the letter he wrote her.

_Dear Ashley,_

_As you’re reading this, know that I have never been happier in my life. In a few hours you will be my wife. My WIFE! I get to call you that for the rest of my life. I get to sex you up daily. How cool is that?! Plus if we’re lucky we’ll have a few cute kids. Hopefully they’ll look like you. As I’m writing this I’m sitting in Matt’s guest bedroom, listening to the other guys playing Call of Duty, wishing I could FaceTime you and share my excitement for tomorrow, but I know soon I’ll be living the dreams I had since I met you in english class. I just wanted you to know that I love you and I am so excited to spend the rest of my life with you._

_Your (almost) husband,_

_Chris_

Ashley laughed and held the letter to her chest. Chris was such a dork but he was her dork and she couldn’t believe that she got to spend every day, forever with him. 

Ashley folded her note back into the envelope and took a deep breath, “I think it’s time to get me married, what do you think?”

“Hell yeah,” Nat said, punching the air.

Emily walked over to them, “Ok Ash, Pam is set up for the first look. Chris is over there blindfolded. You basically just walk over there and signal for him to take it off. Her and Loretta will take pictures from 2 angles and I will be videoing. Whenever you’re ready.”

Ashley couldn’t contain her smile. She hadn’t talked to Chris since she left to prepare at the Washington’s house. She slowly approached him and took a deep breath. 

“Ash?”

“I’m here,” she reached for his blindfold before he could.

Chris gasped as he saw her and instantly grabbed her face and kissed her. When he pulled away they both had the biggest smiles. 

Ashley took his hands in hers, “Whaddya think?”

“You look as beautiful as the day I met you.”

She bit her lip and blushed, “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”


	8. You've Got Mail

Matt’s house was designated for the guys to stay at since there were places for each guy to sleep. Chris sat down in the guest bedroom and wrote his letter to Ashley while Mike and Josh were in the living room playing Call of Duty. He could hear every bit of smack talk that Josh said. 

Once he had written it and placed it in the envelope he walked out just as Mike lost and proceeded to throw the controller on the couch in defeat.

“Fuck this game.”

Matt, who was making dinner, replied, “You’re probably rusty. I don’t think playing COD is a high priority of someone who has a full time job and a baby on the way.”

“Is this way of telling me I don’t have a life?” Josh scoffed.

Chris gave Josh a look. After high school, Josh had been doing odd jobs for his dad’s movies with no pay. He had gone to school for film development and gotten his degree, but refused to be referred to as “Bob Washington’s son” and so he produced under a pseudonym, but without that advantage, he hadn’t gotten much success or profit. And because of that he spent most of his days “workshopping” his “big hit”. It had been 6 years and that big hit had yet to come to him.

Josh sighed, “I just need that _spark_. That one idea.”

“My big hit,” Chris and Josh said in unison.

“You know, as your best man, I thought you would be nicer to me.”

Chris came and put his hand on Josh’s shoulder, “As my best friend, you should know that I make fun of you and just because I'm getting married does not change that at all.”

“So Matt, are you hearing wedding bells with Alexis?” Mike said, trying to change the subject.

“We actually broke up,” he replied, “As much as I liked her, the fact we were in different stages of life made things harder.”

“Oh yeah I forgot she’s like, what, 19? 20?”

“20, but she took a gap year before college so she was just at a different place than me. Which in the grand scheme of things just wasn’t working.”

The rest of the night was spent catching up and having honest conversations about the women in their lives. Between Josh butting heads with his mom, Chris talking about marriage, and Mike expressing his concerns about being a father there was a lot to say.

The next morning, Chris got up at 9. He was the first one up so he looked through the cupboards for cereal. He fixed himself a bowl and took in the silence. 

“Coachise! Ready to get linked to the ‘ole ball and chain?” Josh said, coming up behind Chris and slapping his hands on Chris’ shoulders, nearly knocking the spoon out of his hand.

“I’m not getting linked to a ball and chain. It’s marriage, not prison.”

Josh laughed, “Sure…”

Mike and Matt came out of the room they had been sharing and made eggs for everyone minus Chris.

It was an hour of goofing around before they needed to get dressed and head to the venue. Each of them wore black suits with the groomsmen wearing mint green and Chris wearing pale pink ties. 

When Chris was putting on his, he stood there looking in the mirror. He still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that he was getting married to Ashley. The girl he had crushed on since he was 15. The girl who knew him as well, if not better than Josh. His best friend. The true love of his life. It was surreal.

As the rest of them were getting ready, Emily knocked on the door with 2 baskets of things in her arms. 

“Take these, I have one more in the car.”

As he was setting the baskets down, he remembered to grab Ashley’s letter to pass off to Emily when she brought the 3rd basket. All of them had cards with the groomsmen’s names on them written in Ashley’s handwriting. 

Josh must’ve come out because he came carrying the last basket and a card with Chris’ name on it, “Christopher, you’ve got mail!”

He snatched the note from Josh’s hand and took a seat and opened it up.

_Dear Chris,_

_I can’t believe I’m actually writing this. As cheesy as this is, trust me you want to hear what I have to say. First of all, I love you. Like a lot. Some people say it’s disgusting how much I love you, mainly Josh, but people nonetheless. Secondly, I want you to know how amazing of a guy I think you are. You have always treated me with the respect you think every woman deserves to have in their life. And the fact I found you makes me so grateful. I couldn’t pick a better man to have children with because I know you’ll treat our daughter(s) like princesses and teach our son(s) to be as kind as you are. I can’t wait to have a family with you and grow old with you._

_I love you,_

_Ashley Hartley (wow I can’t believe I actually get to write that from now on!)_

Josh, emerging from the bathroom, looked at Chris smiling and looking over the letter again, “Did Ashley wrote you an erotic letter so you have fuel to rip that dress off her?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, no. She wrote me a very lovely note,” Chris replied but Josh looked annoyed, “But yes, I do want to rip the dress off her tonight.”

“I made sure it had a zipper, just for you.”

“What are these?” Mike asked, pointing at the baskets.

“My guess is that Ashley made thank you goodie baskets for you guys.”

Josh picked up his and looked at it’s contents, “Candy _and_ Malibu? Fuck. Yes.”

“She got me earplugs,” Mike began to read his note and got choked up and he cleared his throat, “and a sweet- Ashley is very thoughtful.”

Matt came out wearing his tux, “Waiting on me?”

Chris pointed for the basket with Matt’s name on it, “Ashley made goodie bags.”

As he dug through it, he smiled, “Comfort foods.”

“Well now that we’ve all taken time to appreciate Ashley’s gifts and erotic notes, it is time to get Chris married to her!” 

They took Matt’s car over to the venue, where they met up with Emily, “Ok, good, you guys are here on time. Ashley is just about to be done so we’re gonna do the first look so we can get the rest of the pictures done before people show up.”

Chris nodded, smiling, and she continued, “I need to borrow one of your ties to use as a blindfold.”

“Ooh! Kinky!” Josh pulled his tie off and handed it over.

Emily took it and led Chris to the spot in front of where the photographers had set up. She tied it around his head and double checked to make sure he couldn’t see.

“I’m gonna go grab Ashley. She’ll walk up and tell you when to take it off.”

Chris gave two thumbs up. He stood there for a while before he heard high heeled footsteps and a deep breath. It _had_ to be Ashley.

“Ash?”

He felt her fumbling to untie the knot on his makeshift blindfold, “I’m here.”

As soon as he saw her face, he instantly took her face in his hands and kissed her. When he pulled away, Ashley was smiling.

“Whaddya think?” She said, grabbing his hands.

He looked her up and down and was just in awe at how beautiful she was. He looked in her eyes and it was like he was back in sophomore year english class sitting at the front of the classroom with this new girl who made his stomach fill with butterflies.

“You look as beautiful as the day I met you.”

She bit her lip and her cheeks turned pink, “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

They stood there for a bit, Chris rubbing his thumb on Ashley's hands. 

“Josh thought you had written me an erotic note,” Chris chuckled.

Ashley shook her head, “Jess encouraged- _demanded_ that we get straight to the baby making so her daughter has a friend.”

Chris bit his lip, “Well it’d be _rude_ to disobey her, right?”

She nodded and Emily looked at her watch and turned off the video, “Ok lovebirds. If we want to get the pictures done with the bridal party we gotta get this show on the road. Go stand over there and I’ll grab everyone else.”

Hand in hand, they walked over to the decorated place that Emily motioned toward. An hour until people started to show up. This was happening.


	9. My Big Fat Greek Wedding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [For the full experience, click here to listen to Sam's wedding playlist!](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6o0zfradE6srHR5xwLoWOB)

The bridesmaids and groomsmen came walking out to meet Chris and Ashley for pictures. Matt came around the corner first and gasped.

“Ash! You look amazing.”

Ashley hugged him, “Thank you.”

Nat and Jessica followed next, the former of which started clapping, “Look at this. My little sister and her soon-to-be husband are serving looks.”

Mike smiled at Jessica when he came out and he looked at Ashley and nodded approvingly, “You look great, Ash.”

“No, _you_ look great all dressed up,” Jessica admired.

Mike walked over to Jess, planting a kiss on her forehead and rubbing her belly, “You guys look great too.”

When Josh rounded the corner, he clicked his teeth, “Coachise, you’ve got one hot ass fiancee. I did great.”

“ _You_ did great?” Sam asked, following behind him.

“Without my top tier intervening we would not be standing here taking these pictures.”

Chris shrugged, “I wouldn’t call it ‘top tier’ but he did help nudge us in the right direction.”

Pam walked over to the group and smiled, “Alright wedding crew. First we’re gonna do all the girls, then all the guys. Then we’ll have you come together, sound good?”

“Let’s do it!” Josh clapped.

The pictures went by smoothly. Nothing too special. People started to file in. Most of the guests were Chris’ relatives, but in the mix were acquaintances they made through work or school. It was time. While they waited for everyone to show up, a slideshow of pictures played on the screens on either side of the arch of flowers. It consisted of pictures of Chris and Ashley as little kids and then it began to show them together. Most of the pictures at the beginning were taken by Josh. 

The pictures showed every Halloween costume duo, Christmas mornings with Diana, endless candid pictures from the annual Blackwood trips. Vacation pictures of them splashing in the water and meeting princesses at Disney. Then the picture they took the day they got engaged which Emily had taken that night. It ended with a shot of them at Ashley’s birthday in front of the balloons.

After everyone had taken their seats, Ashley kissed Chris before he made his way to meet the officiant at the end of the aisle. Diana brought out the flower girl and ring bearer who were Chris’ cousins Lily and Evan who were 4 and 8 respectively. As they walked down the aisle, Canon in D played over them. The bridesmaids and groomsmen linked arms with one another and listened for their cue. Slowly, one by one they walked down.

The song changed to the choice Ashley and Chris made, “Never Stop” by SafetySuit. Everyone stood and looked at the doors and Diana looked over at Ashley.

“You ready?”

Ashley smiled back at her, “I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life.”

They opened the door and the two of them walked down the aisle while the song played.

_I will never stop trying. I will never stop watching as you leave. I will never stop losing my breath every time I see you looking back at me. And I will never stop holding your hand. I will never stop opening your door. I will never stop choosing you, babe. I will never get used to you._

As she walked down the aisle, she looked around at all of her friends and now family. She couldn’t believe that this was actually happening when she had been dreaming about it for years. When she got to the end of the aisle, they waited out the song, holding hands and whispering that they loved one another. Once the song stopped, the officiant began to speak.

“Chris and Ashley, today you are surrounded by your friends and family, all of whom have gathered here to witness your marriage and to share in the joy of this special occasion. Through your commitment to each other, may you grow and nurture a love that makes both of you better people. You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. Now you shall say a few words that take you across the threshold of life, and things will never quite be the same between you. For after these vows, you shall say to the world, this—is my husband, this—is my wife. Now, Chris and Ashley have written their own vows. Chris…”

Chris pulled out his piece of paper and began to read, his hands shaking, “I remember when you walked into my english class. I had no idea we shared the same sentiment of ‘I don’t even know this person but I love them’. From that moment on we were inseparable. You laughed at all of my jokes, even things that weren’t funny. That’s when I knew I wanted you in my life forever. And when I asked you to marry me, Ash, I knew I would get to promise you in front of everyone to be there through all the good times and the bad, because I love you.”

Tears came to Ashley’s eyes as she took the paper hers were written on.

“Chris,” her voice cracked and she mumbled ‘fuck’ under her breath before continuing, “You have made every day feel like the best day of my life. Even the times where we spend the whole day fighting over stupid things, I would rather fight with you and know we’re gonna make up, then never have another morning where I wake up beside you to see you drooling on the pillow with your glasses disheveled. I love you more than words can describe and I can’t wait to be your wife.”

The officiant continued, “Do you, Ashley Elizabeth Brown, take Chris to be your partner in life and to share a path of life with; equal in love, promising to honor and cherish him, through good times and bad, until death do you part?”

“I do.”

“Do you, Christopher James Hartley, take Ashley to be your partner in life and to share a path of life with; equal in love, promising to honor and cherish him, through good times and bad, until death do you part?”

“Hell yeah, I do!”

Everyone laughed for a minute, including Chris and Ashley themselves. They exchanged rings in that moment of laughter.

“And now, by the power vested in me by the State of California, I hereby pronounce you husband and wife. Chris, you may kiss your bride.”

The two of them kissed, perhaps a little _too_ passionately for their first kiss as man and wife.

So much so that Josh hollars, “Get it, Coachise!”

“Family and friends, I present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Hartley.”

Everyone clapped as Chris and Ashley walked back down the aisle, hand in hand. They headed back to the bridal suite and talked while people either left or headed over to the reception. 

“COACHISE AND SMASHLEY ARE _MARRIED!_ ” Josh yelled loud enough for everyone lingering around to hear as he burst through the doors to the bridal suite, “How’s married life?”

“We’ve been married like an hour.”

“And in that hour have you at least _attempted_ to bone? Cause that kiss up there was hot enough to get _me_ pregnant.”

Ashley laughed, “It would take about half that to figure things out in this dress.”

Josh shrugged, “Well I came here, on behalf of the nutcase Emily has become, to let you know that you need to be at the reception by 5. I’ll leave you two alone, but I _will_ be back to pick you up in an hour. Surely you can figure _something_ out.”

He left and the two of them laughed and continued their conversation.

An hour later, as promised, Josh returned, “It is way past the time for me to visit the open bar. Let’s go party like we're fucking porn stars!”

"So are we partying _like_ porn stars?" Ashley asked, "Or like we're _fucking_ porn stars?"

"Well that depends..." Josh started as they made their way to the reception.


	10. Just Married

When Ashley and Chris arrived at the reception, Josh went in and directly to the bar, which gave Emily the signal to announce their entrance.

“Ladies and gentlemen, join me in welcoming Ashley and Chris Hartley!”

Everyone clapped as they entered and walked up to the table at the other end of the dancefloor.

“You may have noticed those games on your table. Feel free to play along by answering each of the questions by checking the ‘he did’ or ‘she did’ boxes. We’ll go over the answers later on tonight. For now feel free to check out the buffet and dance!”

The DJ played all the classics but nobody was really dancing yet since people were eating and filling out the game.

Emily took the mic back after a while had passed, “You still have time to play the game, but we’re gonna have Chris and Ashley have their first dance as husband and wife.”

Chris stood up and offered his hand to Ashley as she stood up and walked over to the center of the dance floor. Neither of them were big on dancing, especially in front of a lot of people. The DJ began to play the song as they walked out.

_Forever can never be long enough for me to feel like I’ve had long enough with you._

As they danced, Chris whispered in her ear, “I don’t think I told you how hot you look in that dress. I can’t _wait_ to take it off.”

“Neither can I,” Ashley said before kissing him, to the adornment of the guests.

After a minute or so of awkward swaying, Emily invited all the other married couples to the dance floor to join them.

“May I have this dance?” Mike said bowing to Jess in her seat.

Jessica smiled, “Yes you may”

The two of them walked out along with a few other couples filled the floor and danced along to the song as it went on.

“Ok, if you’ve been married longer than a year, stay on the floor. Everyone else, please take your seats.”

Jessica laughed as they went to sit down, “Short dance.”

Her face tensed up and Mike looked over at her worried, “You ok, babe?”

As she took her seat she laughed, “I think she liked the dance.”

“What do you mean?”

Jessica grabbed his hand and placed it on her bump, “Talk to her.”

“Hey girlie,” he knelt down to her stomach, “Jess, I look ridiculous.”

Then his eyes lit up and they linked eyes and smiled. Ashley came over to see what was going on.

“Everything good?”

“Everything’s great. She’s dancing.”

Ashley looked confused until Mike put her hand where his was and she felt the little kick, “Jess! Oh my God!”

Jessica nodded, “I know!”

They narrowed it down to one couple, Chris’ grandparents who had been married 50 years, “Ok, now all the single people come out and who knows, maybe you’ll meet someone!”

Josh led the pack and Chris sighed as he walked over to Ashley, “He’s drunk. What are _you_ doing?”

Ashley stood back up and glanced over at Josh, “The baby is kicking for the first time. Should we be worried about him?”

Chris shrugged, “At least his speech will be....one to remember.”

After a few more songs, Emily grabbed back the mic to read off the answers to the questions. Ashley initiated the first kiss, Chris had said “I love you” first, and Ashley had moved in with him. The only person to get all 10 of the questions right was Josh, which didn’t surprise anyone. 

“I think he knows more about our relationship than we do,” Ashley whispered into Chris’ ear.

“Ok! Now to hear a word from the best man and matron of honor!”

Josh grabbed the mic out of Emily’s hand and both Ashley and Chris held their breath for what was about to come out of his mouth.

“I have known Coachise here,” he patted Chris on the back and was already slurring his words, “since 3rd grade. We got in a lot of trouble together, mainly me, but sometimes you got dragged into it. I didn’t think you would have any other friends besides me and then BAM!”

He made an explosion noise with his mouth, “Ashley showed up. You two were emotionally fucked up from the beginning and somehow it took two- TWO years to start dating because neither of you had the balls to mention the fact you had feelings. All it took was me and one perfectly placed Rihanna song playing at homecoming to get them to stop being _pussies_ , and I knew right then and there they were gonna get together. Did I know they were gonna get married? _Fuck yeah_. Did they believe me? _No_. Which is rude guys, you should’ve listened. There’s not two people meant more for each other than them. Congrats on proving me right, hoes.”

Ashley was laughing and Chris shook his head, embarrassed. It was time for Nat’s speech and unlike Josh she had it written down and was not wasted.

“When I first met Ashley, I hated her. She took away my only child title. I mean, I was 5, what did you expect? But we grew to tolerate one another. I was the cool big sister. I let her get away with breaking curfew so she could sit in her boyfriend’s car making out until 2 in the morning. I had no idea how serious they were, but now I’m speaking at their wedding,” she shrugged, “The first guy she met on the first day of high school is now her husband. Congrats on making it this far. You deserve all the happiness in the world.”

Ashley got up and hugged her and Emily announced it was time for the bouquet and garter toss. First, Chris had to get the garter off Ashley’s thigh. The tradition is for guys to use their teeth, and Ashley had assured him his hand was fine, but when she sat on the chair in the middle of the floor, he stuck his face underneath, kissing her inner thigh before biting the garter and pulling it out. She giggled at the feeling of his lips on her skin. Josh whistled when Chris was grinning, his face blushing super hard.

“Fellas be ready,” Chris chuckled before throwing it over his shoulder and into Josh’s hands, of course.

“Alright, girls! Get ready to catch it!” Ashley turned her back to the group of single girls. Somehow, Josh caught that too and he handed it to one of the ladies, winking.

Next they had a mother-son/daughter dance since neither of Ashley’s parents were present. They played “Here Comes the Sun” and twirled and laughed as people with kids started to leave.

It came time to cut the cake and Ashley had totally forgotten that Pam had been snapping pictures all day. She came and stood as they cut the cake. They fed it to one another and Ashley playfully dabbed some frosting on his nose.

The remaining guests lined the exit with sparklers waving as they walked out.

“Now it’s time for the fun stuff,” Chris said as they got in their getaway car and headed to their hotel room for the night before they flew to New York for their honeymoon.


	11. Letters to Juliet

_Sam,_

_From the day I met you, you have taken me under your wing. One of the first conversations we had while I was hanging out with Josh and you with Hannah I will never forget. You told me that if I ever needed someone to talk to, to get me out of trouble, to stand by my side when nobody else would, that you were always a phone call away. Over these last 9 years there have been only a handful of times where I needed you, and you kept your word every single time. So the fact I have you to stand by my side during one of the biggest days of my life means a lot. Thank you for always having my best interests at heart and loving me unconditionally. You’ve made me a better person and I can’t thank you enough for that._

_-Ash_

_\----------------------------_

_Mike,_

_I’m not gonna lie to you. When Jess first told me about her crush on you, I was extremely annoyed that she would be shallow enough to fall for a guy like you. It wasn’t until you guys broke up and I saw how much that affected someone who became like a sister to me that I realized that we needed to put our differences aside because you made her happier than I’d ever seen her. You took the shy, insecure parts of her and made her comfortable to be in her own skin because you loved her regardless. I’ve seen you become less of the arrogant dick you were in high school and grow into a loving, devoted husband and father-to-be who I now can call my friend._

_-Ash_

_P.S.- Promise you’ll take out the earplugs to help Jess take care of her every once in a while ;)_

_\----------------------------_

_Emily,_

_Thank you for helping the planning for this day become a million times less stressful. I can tell you love your job and will make all of your clients feel as special as you’ve made me feel. We haven’t always been the closest of friends, and even then you wanted to help make this day as beautiful as I know it will be. I will be sure to leave a Yelp review singing your praises when I’m in New York as long as you promise to stop getting back together with Matt (I’m not kidding)._

_-Ashley (almost) Hartley_

_\----------------------------_

_Jess,_

_I was looking through all my old stuff looking for any pictures I had from high school and I found the assignment where our nickname spawned from. It was like unlocking a distant memory. It was when we were assigned groups to perform a scene from Romeo and Juliet sophomore year. I had only talked to you and Matt a handful of times but when we got paired up and had to come up with a name, Matt turned down the idea of “Matty Matt and the pimps” because he didn’t want to come off as derogatory to us. You rolled your eyes and we came up with “Tiny and the Sparkle Bitches” (with a heart to dot the I in tiny and a star in the bitches). Mr. Grehtman wouldn’t say the name out loud, but when we got the grade sheet back, he sighed and sure enough, written on it was our name (minus the detailing). It’s wild to think that it’s been 7 years since then. But you will always be Tiny and I will always be Sparkle Bitch #2 (and I’m sure your baby will end up with an equally ridiculous nickname someday)._

_-Your favorite Sparkle Bitch_

_\----------------------------_

_Josh,_

_I was really trying to dig deep and be sentimental in these letters, but when I tried to sum up our friendship, my brain kept jumping back to the time where you thought your calling was to be a rapper. I bet you thought I forgot about it, but once that memory resurfaced, I looked on YouTube and found the music video we made with one of your dad’s cameras without his permission. I thought I’d share some of those top-notch lyrics you came up with. “Sup, motherfuckers, it’s me. Joshy-Wash, the man, the OG. Give you sunshine, you know I got a pocketful. Give me everything, girl, like I’m Pitbull”. I wonder what happened to those girls you paid to be all over you while Chris and I threw movie money on you. That’s true friendship if you ask me. You should be thanking us, but for now I’ll let it slide. Enjoy the booze._

_-Smashley_

_\----------------------------_

_Matt,_

_You’re such a good friend. You wanna know why? Because when Josh was hosting that party the night Chris was grounded and everyone was trying to get me to drink, you came up to me and handed me a solo cup and whispered to me that it was water. So while everyone was getting drunk, you and I were sober sitting in one of the bedrooms talking about our favorite books and a few months later you came up to me and had read all the ones I mentioned. I asked you why and you said (and I quote), “The books people love speak volumes about who they are and what they’ve been through”. We’ve traded books back and forth ever since. I know you tell people that your favorite book is “The Great Gatsby” because it impresses people enough so they leave it at that, but that your actual favorite book is “Tuck Everlasting” because it reminds you to “not fear death, but rather the unlived life”. I filled your basket with candy so that when you inevitably feel sad about missing Alexis or even Emily, you can go watch whatever movie is playing in theaters that has the worst Rotten Tomatoes score and forget about it, if only for a few hours. I love you so much._

_-Ash_

\---------------------------

_Nat,_

_I couldn’t ask for a better big sister. Of all our inside jokes and things you taught me, I couldn’t thank you enough for teaching me what it looked like to be a confident adult woman. I know you weren’t always perfect and had your own stuff to deal with, but mom left during the most formative years of my life and you graciously stepped up, especially when I moved out of dad’s too. There’s a reason I knew the second I got engaged that you would be the one to be my matron of honor. Now enough of the gushy stuff. I wanted to share my favorite memory of us. Imagine this: you, me, the skating rink. You were trying to take a picture and didn’t realize there was a step down into the rink. You fell down like a cartoon character. Feet flying out from under you and landing hard on your butt. I nearly pissed myself laughing and every time I go there I think about it again, even thinking about it now I’m wheezing. Thank you for the schadenfreude._

_-Mashley Potatoes_


	12. Mamma Mia!

Chris and Ashley had spent their trip to New York doing the tourist stops. Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, the 9/11 memorial. They covered all of it and ate as much great food as they could. 

When they got back, Sam and Matt kept waiting for a pregnancy announcement, while Jessica was months away from giving birth. As the weeks passed with no news, they all started to focus on when Jess and Mike’s baby would be born and what her name would be. They had a bet on which day it would be. 

Jessica had asked Ashley to be there when she was born. so when Ashley’s phone rang on February 2nd in the middle of the day, she didn’t think anything of it. Her bet had been that the baby would come a few days before, not close to two weeks before she was due.

As she drove to the hospital, her mind went back to this day six years ago when she had gotten a call from Josh saying he needed her because Hannah and Beth had gotten into an accident and it wasn’t looking good for either of them. Neither of them had made it, so today always seemed kind of grim. But now Jessica‘s baby might bring some light to the day.

When the nurse took her to the room that Jess and Mike were assigned, she lightly knocked before entering, “I really hope for the sake of my eyes that the first thing I see is not your vagaina”

“No worries, come in.”

Mike greeted her with a wave. He was texting family and friends that today was the day. They had just gotten there and Jessica sat here in a hospital gown, scrolling on her phone.

“Although you are going to have to see my vagina at some point. She’s gotta come out somehow.”

“I know, I just didn’t want to walk in to you with some nurses fingers up there.”

Mike laughed, “It’s a weird view, I’ll tell you that much.”

Ashley sat her bag down on the couch that lined the window and took a seat. Her phone dinged with the mass text Mike had sent to the Blackwood group. It contained a picture of Jess posing on the bed along with a message that read, “It's time to meet baby Munroe”.

Everyone was responding shocked that all of their bets were incorrect. They discussed what to do with the money and eventually came to the conclusion to let Mike and Jess keep it since babies are expensive.

A nurse came in once again to check Jess an hour later. She had progressed from 4 to 6 centimeters and now that she was in active labor, she was in a lot more pain.

“Drugs. I’m not gonna be able to do this without drugs.”

They administered the epidural and she went from groaning with every contraction to lying there, shivering.

“How are you feeling?” Mike asked.

“Honestly, really fucking good.”

Ashley smiled, “And at the end of this you get to have your little girl! How cool is that?!”

“I would’ve never thought in a million years that it would be us having the first baby. I was sure it would be you and Chris.”

“Well we’re doing our best to join the ranks. Do you guys have a name for her?”

Mike nodded, “But we’re saving it until she’s born. We’ve only used it when we were talking to her with nobody around.”

“I’m sure it’ll be a beautiful name for a beautiful baby. I mean look at her parents.”

Jess laughed, her teeth chattering from the epidural, “I’m sure we’ll think she’s adorable either way.”

A few hours passed by and the sun was setting when the nurse came to check once more.

She smiled up at Jess, “Your little girl is ready to come meet you. I’ll go grab your doctor.”

Mike stood up and took her hand in his, “Holy shit Jess.”

Ashley stood on the opposite side of her, “Guess I can't avoid it now.”

As the doctor walked in along with nurses to assist, Jessica looked back and forth between Mike and Ashley. Both of them smiled and nodded in support of her as she began to push.

About a half hour later, she was born and everyone involved started to cry as she was placed on Jessica’s bare chest and they began wiping her off. The baby’s first cries were the most beautiful sound. 

“Hey there Mila,” Jessica said holding her close, “It’s ok sweetheart. I got you. Mommy’s got you.”

With the soothing sound of Jessica's voice, Mila's loud cries became small whimpers and as she warmed up skin to skin with Jess, they came to a stop.

“Mila,” Ashley said, wiping tears from her eyes.

They swaddled her up and handed her to Mike for the first time, “She’s so small.”

Ashley pulled out her camera and snapped this moment of bonding between Mike and Mila. As things calmed back down and the doctors and nurses left, Jessica held Mila close to her and sighed.

“I’m a mom, Ash. Holy shit.”

“And I’m the cool aunt she will come to to get away with stuff.”

Mike laughed, “I love her so much already.”

Ashley took pictures of their first moments as a family. Such a sweet moment that Ashley couldn’t wait to have for herself. 

A bit passed and Mike looked over at Ashley, “Do you want to hold her?”

“I would love to.”

As they placed Mila into her arms she felt such a warmth in her chest. Such a loved baby was finally here and in her arms. 

The next morning, people began to come visit. Matt came first. As he walked in the room he gasped.

“Jess, she’s so small!”

“I know. 6 pounds 4 ounces.”

He let out a small laugh as Mike placed her into Matt’s arms, “Hi sweet girl. Wait, what’s her name?”

“Mila,” Mike answered, “Mila Miriam Munroe.”

“Sweet little Mila. I hope I have a daughter that’s as cute as you one day.”

Jess smiled, “You will.”

“You know, once I knew Emily couldn’t have kids, it made me realize how much I do want them.”

“Wait-“ Ashley said, “She can’t?”

He shook his head, “It really strained our relationship. She wasn’t even open to the idea of adoption or anything because she was throwing herself into her job as a way of coping.”

“Shit, dude. That’s horrible,” Mike responded.

"And when I was with Alexis and the idea of marriage and kids seemed 5, maybe more, years away?" He shook his head, "Finding someone who is on the same page is my highest priority."

There was a moment of silence as everyone took it in that was broken by the smallest little cry. Matt handed her back to Mike who began to shush her.

There was a faint knock on the door, “Chris entering. Please alert me if I need to shield my eyes.”

“Hey Chris,” Ashley smiled, “no need to hide.”

He walked in and his face went from joking to a soft adoration at the sight of Mike rocking her gently. Ashley took his hand and squeezed it.

“So I brought Mila a present, I forgot.”

Ashley pulled out a 6 month sized onesie and handed it to Jessica, “Best friends, just like our moms.”

She then took out a matching one that was newborn sized and Jess gasped, “No way. No fucking way. Ash!”

Ashley smiled, taking Chris’ hand in hers, “Way.”

Matt laughed, “Watch out world. Two Blackwood babies in the year 2020.”

“So when does Mila get her friend?” Mike asked, nodding to her.

“September.”

As Matt left, Josh walked in, “Mike and Jess starting to make everyone else look bad for not being a small family. Ya know, except for the newlyweds.”

“How’d you know this time?” Chris asked.

“Chris, you should know me better than that. I just got vibes from Ashley that she had a bun in the oven so I waited a few weeks and sure enough there was a positive test under your sink.”

“You touched the test?”

Josh feigned gagging, “Hell no, just seeing it under there was enough. I’m not a complete dumbass.”

Now that the news of the baby was out, Ashley and Chris headed home and continued their house hunt. Being pregnant meant they were soon to outgrow their one bedroom apartment soon. Jessica told Ashley later that Emily didn't come to see the baby. Hopefully this wouldn't be the driving force that isolated Emily from the rest of them. 


	13. Look Who's Talking

Zillow’s website filled all the tabs open on Ashley’s phone. They had narrowed the search down to a handful of houses based on their dream house. They wanted to stay in Redlands for sure. It kept them in a good distance between their friends and close enough to Diana that when they had their baby, she would be easily a phone call away.

3 bedrooms was a must, but more would be great. Their price point was not unreasonable. Chris had been hired on full time to Esri with a higher pay than others because of his loyalty as an intern. Ashley had been interim subbing for those on maternity leave. She wasn’t focused on getting hired just yet since she was due right when school started and that’s not a good way to start off a year. 

Their realtor was named Mary-Grace and looked only a few years older than Chris, but her reviews online sing her praises. They pulled up to the first house she had suggested for them. It was a tudor style home on the side of town closest to where Diana lived. As they got out of their respective cars, Mary-Grace looked down at her clipboard.

“So this house is lower than your bracket. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. Follow me.”

The three of them walked through the front door and Ashley looked up at Chris, already worried about the house. They walked through the place from room to room. The appliances were really outdated. The bedrooms left a lot to be desired. Once the tour was done, it was an easy decision to move on to the next.

They pulled up to a modern style and before Mary-Grace could even get out of her car, both Chris and Ashley had agreed that place was definitely not their style. 

Ashley shook her head, “This doesn’t feel like a house. I just... _can’t_.”

The third place they pulled up was gorgeous. A colonial style house that when they opened up the front door was gorgeous. All the main living areas were hardwood and the bedrooms were carpeted. There were 4 bedrooms and 2 ½ bathrooms. Ashley grabbed Chris’ hand when they had looked around.

“I think this is it.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Mary-Grace said, “But there is one hitch. It’s a bit above your budget.”

“Like how much?” Chris said. If it was a little bit, they could probably adjust.

She showed her notepad where the price was written. Ashley’s face fell. That was not doable. It was discouraging so they decided to call it a day. Plus, Sam had once again put together a lovely gender reveal party on her own. 

When they got there, Jessica and Mike were sitting outside, the latter of whom was burping Mila. Sam had requested that Chris and Ashley wear all while for the reveal. 

“Aw there’s my sweet girly,” Ashley walked up to Mike.

“Thanks Ash, I’m honored to be your sweet girly.”

Ashley didn’t look amused, “Mila knows who I’m talking to.”

“I hope for your kids sake that it’s a boy so they won’t get offended,” Jessica said.

“I think it’s a girl, and she knows she has my heart so there’s no problem,” Ashley said, rubbing her small bump.

“It’s a boy,” Chris rolled his eyes, “trust me.”

Mike chuckled and motioned to his blue shirt, “I feel pretty good about it being a boy.”

“Says the guy who wore both pink and blue to his own shower because he didn’t want to be wrong in front of his friends,” Jessica laughed, “It’s a girl. Cute little best friend for Mila.”

Josh walked out of his mother’s house, “SMASHLEY AND COACHISE. Hope you’ve come up with a baby name.”

“Just one?” Chris asked.

“Well you _know_ it's a-”

Sam got Matt to whistle loudly before she announced, “Ok! Everyone’s here. Now here’s the deal since I had to top the previous reveal. Will the parents-to-be please come join me up here.”

They walked up to her and took a look around the lawn. Nat and her husband were there, Matt and his new girlfriend whom they hadn’t met stood as well, Diana with her camera smiled at Ashley. The only person who wasn’t there was Emily, which wasn’t surprising. She had been absent from the group since Mila was born.

“Ok here’s how it works. We have all these water guns filled with paint. Pretty easy, shoot our blank canvas that is Chris and Ashley’s clothes. Some of the paint is yellow and one of them is blue or pink. Pretty easy.”

Sam handed everyone a squirt gun and everyone took their turns creating a mess onto their clothes. All were yellow so far. The last one to go, of course, was Josh.

“I would just like to say, before I introduce the newest Hartley that I think,” he squirted without looking, “that she is going to be the most awkward child there ever was. But there’s hope because of her cool uncle Josh.”

Sure enough, pink paint covered them. Everyone cheered and Chris kissed Ashley, to which she responded, “Mother’s intuition is hardly ever wrong.”

“Josh’s intuition is _never_ wrong, apparently.”

As soon as pictures were taken of Chris and Ashley covered in paint, they got dressed in clothes that weren’t dirty. Ashley had a cute white dress with little cherries on it that showed off her small bump.

She walked over to Matt and his girlfriend, “Hey Matt, I don’t believe I’ve met your girl.”

“Hi, I’m Megan,” She smiled, “Congrats on _your_ girl.”

“Thank you. I know she is going to be super spoiled by all her aunts and uncles.”

Matt nodded, “Mila is a great example of that. She could get anything she wanted.”

“She’s only 2 months old and has everyone wrapped around her finger.”

Jessica walked over and motioned to pull Ashley away, “Em isn’t here.

“I know. I really don’t want her to alienate herself.”

Jessica sighed, looking over at Mike and Chris cooing over Mila, “I think I have the best idea.”

“What is that?”

“A girls night out.”

“But what about-”

Jessica pointed over at the boys, “Between the two of them they could manage to keep her alive for a few hours. Plus his mom could come over if they start panicking.”

“It _would_ only be a few hours.”

“And I need to talk to Emily about planning my wedding.”

“I’ll call her later and hopefully I can convince her to meet up,” Sam said, walking up, “I think it could be good for her to stop working herself to death.”

Sam was able to set up a day, and the 4 of them met for dinner, leaving Mike and Chris to take care of Mila.


	14. Look Who's Talking 2

As gifts from the baby shower, they had gotten a lot of things they needed, mainly from Melinda Washington. There were still a few more things they needed to get with the gift cards to Buy Buy Baby.

As they walked into the store as they had a few times before, they grabbed a cart and started perusing the aisles. The main thing they had been waiting to buy was the car seat so they headed to the far side of the store and were greeted by a worker.

“Hey, can I help you guys find anything?”

They asked plenty of questions before the associate got pulled away and an older lady walked up and awed before reaching out for Ashley’s belly.

She took a step back, anxious, “Please don’t touch me.”

“Oh, honey I’m sorry. Your bump is just so cute,” the lady obviously wasn’t sorry because she reached out again, touching her this time.

“She said not to touch her,” Chris glared at the lady, “Obviously you need to get a hearing aid because you did it anyway.”

“Young man, didn’t your mother teach you manners?”

“My mother taught me that when someone says no, you listen to them. It’s a little thing called _consent_.”

The lady scoffed, “You’re acting like I’m sexually harassing her.”

“ _Consent isn’t a sexual thing_ ,” Chris said, getting more angry.

Ashley took his hand in hers and started to pull him away from the situation.

“The nerve of that lady.”

“I love your protective side,” Ashley smiled, “But while you were having words with her, Mary-Grace texted that she got word of this house that she thinks is perfect for us, but it is gonna go fast so we need to go tour it.”

The two of them made their way to the house. From the outside alone, Ashley was impressed. It had a three car garage, which was more than they needed but the driveway could easily accommodate their group parties.

Mary-Grace smiled at them as they pulled up, “Hey guys, I can’t _wait_ to show you this place.”

As they walked in the front door, they were greeted by a big room with a fireplace, “So this is the main living room with a working fireplace. There’s also a dining room on the far end of the room.”

“ _Main_ living room?” Chris raised an eyebrow.

“There is a family room as well, but we’ll get there.”

They walked through the living room and through the dining area and left into the kitchen which had a smaller dining table in it. The appliances were new and there was an overlook to another room.

“That’s the family room down there. The previous owners used it as another living room.”

“Damn. There’s 2 living rooms,” Chris said under his breath.

They backtracked to the stairs in the living room and took a right at the top of them to the master room.

“This is _massive_ ,” Ashley smiled, looking up at Chris.

“Before we see anymore, how much is it?” Chris replied, “It’s not worth getting your hopes up if it’s out of budget.”

Mary-Grace wrote the price down and showed it to them and Ashley laughed, “Yeah right. Show us the real price.”

“That’s it.”

“Holy shit,” Chris laughed, grabbing Ashley’s hand.

“H-holy shit,” Ashley’s face looked confused.

“You ok, Ash?”

“I think so? I _think_ she likes it too. I- I’m not sure though,” she took a second before giggling, “She likes it!”

Chris gasped and reached out to her stomach and Ashley repositioned it and sure enough a little kick followed suit.

“How soon can we put in an offer?” Chris laughed.

“Let’s finish looking around, just to be sure.”

The rest of the house was perfect. 3 other bedrooms and a backyard with a pool. They put in an offer immediately and within a few days they were signing papers.

Moving day was a few weeks later. They rented a moving truck to pack up their apartment furniture and boxes.

Mike and Jess were the first to make it to the new house to help. While Mike and Chris brought in boxes, Jessica unloaded things into the kitchen cabinets, leaving Ashley to hold Mila.

“She’s getting so big, Jess.”

“I know. But soon enough we’ll have your little girl to be the itty bitty one.”

“At least having a house has taken a _big_ weight off my shoulders.”

“I bet. We’ve been looking at buying, but haven’t found anything. Not as big of a deal since we have 2 bedrooms at our place.”

“Until we have our next ones together,” Ashley laughed and Jessica shook her head.

“Do you guys have a name for this one?”

“We do, but we want to have some mystery for people. We’ve even thought about now finding out gender for the next one. A little thing to look forward to.”

“That would be _torture_!”

“Maybe, but it would be fun.”

When they finished putting dishes away, they walked out to see Matt and Mike carrying the mattress up the stairs.

“One room unpacked,” Ashley grinned at Chris.

“You could go start unpacking the nursery boxes. Most of the light boxes are up there, clothes and stuff.”

“Thanks, babe.”

Jessica and Ashley followed the boys up the stairs and over to the soon-to-be nursery. The two of them began to unload boxes while Mila did tummy time on the floor.

“Her little laugh is the cutest thing ever, here,” Jessica laid down the clothes she had in her hand and rolled Mila on her back and began to make faces while tickling her.

She let out a full laugh and Ashley awed, “You weren’t lying. That little giggle is so cute.”

They spent the rest of the day unpacking and talking about the differences about life with a baby. With help from the boys as well as Emily and Sam, they managed to make a lot of progress on making the house into their dream house.


	15. Life As We Know It

It was the day before Ashley’s 24th birthday and the group had gathered at their for a small party. Matt had come over early to help make food. They made devilled eggs, ham and cheese sliders, and had a tray of pita bread with hummus.

The doorbell rang and Chris went to get it, “Nat! Come on in.”

Nat walked in and made her way to the kitchen, peeking in and seeing Ashley shoving her face full of pita bread.

“Mmm,” Ashley motioned to hold on while she ate, “Hey Nat. How are you?”

“I’m good. You are looking like you could pop any minute.”

Ashley sighed, rubbing her bump, “I feel like I could. Braxton Hicks has been the death of me. I’ve been anxious because like, what if I don’t know what’s real.”

“I’m sure you’ll know.”

“I sure hope so. I packed the hospital bags already so it’s on her schedule. And on that note I’m gonna go sit down.”

Ashley made her way out to sit on the couch but on the way there, Matt called out, “Ash did you just wet yourself?”

She looked down and noticed there was _something_ trickling down her leg, “I don’t think so?”

Chris overheard as he was letting Mike, Jess, and Mila in, “Ash, everything ok?”

“I’m leaking?”

Jess and Mike shared a look, to which Chris questioned, “You’re leaking? Like you peed yourself? Or like amniotic stuff?”

“My guess would be the latter,” Jessica responded.

“Wait,” Ashley said, “You think this is actually it?”

Jessica nodded and Chris looked excitedly panicked, “Guess this party is cancelled. Matt would you let everyone else know?”

“Got it,” he pulled out his phone and everyone’s phone buzzed as he texted the group chat.

“I’ll grab the bags. Nat can you go put some towels down on the passenger seat?”

Natasha nodded as Chris quickly made it up the stairs and returned with the hospital bags. 

Ashley just stood there, kinda freaked out. Jess walked up to her, “Ash, come on, let’s go out to the car.”

She nodded and started to walk out. Mike called out to Jess as they walked out, “I’ll just take Mila home. Let me know if you need me.”

When Jess and Ashley got to the car, Nat had laid down towels on the front seat and Chris was placing the bags in the backseat of her car. She climbed in, with Jess following suit in the back.

“Good luck guys. I can’t wait to meet her,” Nat said as she shut Ashley’s door.

Matt, Mike, and Mila all came outside to wave as they pulled out of the driveway and started to head to the hospital. Ashley pulled out her phone, calling the maternity ward.

“Hi, this is Ashley Hartley and I’m coming in,” she grunted as her stomach tightened, “I think I’m in labor? I think that my water broke, I’m not really sure. Mmhm. Yeah. Yeah. Ok. Thank you.”

As they pulled up to the hospital, Chris and Ashley got out and walked in as Jess parked the car. They got checked in and walked back to a room, Jess following a few minutes later. They checked to see if Ashley was dilated at all. She had started to have contractions, so she hoped that she was.

“Ok, so you’re like 4 centimeters. Go ahead and change into a gown and I’ll hook you up to the monitors.”

She did as she was told, and they put heart rate monitors for the baby. As time went on, her contractions were mild. They definitely could be worse and she could still talk through most of them. The rest of the day went by, with the contractions getting worse as she dilated more.

“Mmm,” she groaned, “Yeah I’m... gonna need drugs…”

The nurse nodded, “Yes, ma’am. I’ll get the anesthesiologist and we’ll get you hooked up.”

When the nurse left the room, Jess chuckled, “Once you get the epidural it’s wild. Like the bottom half of your body is the good kind of asleep.”

Sure enough, that’s what it felt like after they hooked her up to the IV of it. She was able to get a little sleep with that, after all it was getting late.

It was just after midnight, officially Ashley’s birthday, when she woke up. She tried to whisper to Jessica but ended up waking them both up, “Sam thought she would be born on Chris’ birthday, but it looks like she’ll be born on mine.”

Chris smiled, “I’m jealous.”

“What a great present, right?”

“How thoughtful of you to get me a baby for my birthday, Chris,” Ashley giggled.

“It’s the _least_ I could do,” Chris took a small bow, “But we should probably sing to you before we get all caught up any further.”

Ashley sighed, she _hated_ the tradition of singing for the most part. When she was surrounded with people at her parties when she was young she always felt awkward being the center of attention. But when it was just her, Chris, and Jess, she guessed it wasn’t so bad.

_Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to Ashley, happy birthday to you._

When they finished, Chris got up and kissed Ashley’s forehead, placing a hand on her stomach, “And happy birthday to you too, Sasha.”

“ _Sasha_?” Jess overheard, “That’s her name?”

“Yeah,” Ashley smiled, “Sasha Adelyn.”

“That’s so frickin cute, I love it.”

“Thanks, we think so too,” Chris nodded her direction.

A nurse came in, lightly knocking, “Ashley, hey. Just gonna check you since you’re up. Are you feeling any pressure?”

“What do you mean pressure?”

“It feels like you have to shit,” Jessica answered, “Except like you don’t actually.”

The nurse nodded and when she looked, she smiled, “You’re just about there. 9 centimeters. I’ll call in your doctor and we’ll have this baby!”

Ashley looked over at Chris, “Oh my God. I-it’s happening.”

Chris came over and put his hand on Ashley’s and smiled, “It’s happening and you’re gonna do great, and then we’re gonna start the next chapter of our life as parents.”

Ashley nodded, smiling. A bit of time passed and the nurse walked back in along with some others who were setting up things for the birth. 

Her doctor walked in, smiling, “Ashley, how are you doing?”

“Well I’m a little anxious about this whole giving birth thing but other than that.”

“Oh, there’s nothing to be anxious about, you’re gonna do great.”

Ashley nodded, unsure still. It was time. She pushed for an hour before she started to get tired.

“I-I don’t know if I can-“

“You can do it Ash,” Jess said.

“Yeah, Ash, you are doing great. Just a little more and we’ll have our little girl.”

Ashley nodded and resumed pushing as instructed. Another hour went by before Sasha was born. They set her on Ashley’s chest and she wept tears of joy.

Chris was a blubbering mess, kissing Ashley’s forehead, “You did it, babe. We have a little girl.”

Jess smiled, “Congrats guys.”

They took Sasha to get cleaned and swaddled before handing her to Chris. Jessica was sure to snap pictures as Sasha was handed to him.

“Hi, sweet girl. I’m your daddy,” he smiled, “I love her so much already.”

Ashley wiped her face off, “We’re parents, I can’t believe it.”

“Welcome to parenthood, it’s scary, you’re gonna love it,” Jess said chuckling.

All the staff eventually left the room, Jess went to get food for the two of them so they could have a moment together as a family.

Sasha was doing skin to skin on Ashley’s chest, Chris was sitting beside her side.

“What time is it?”

Chris pulled out his phone, “4 AM”

Ashley nodded, “Happy Birthday Sasha. You’ve picked such a great day to be born on. I’m sure daddy is jealous.”

“He is,” he interjected, “Our next one I’m requesting to share mine.”

“She hasn’t even been alive for an hour and you’re already planning for more kids.”

“What can I say? I’m fond of the one we’ve got.”

Ashley smiled as Jessica walked back in with food, “Hospital food is shit but restaurants are closed cause it’s the middle of the night, so it’ll have to do.”

She sat the food down on the rolling table and moved it over to Ashley’s bed side.

“At this point I would eat cardboard and enjoy it. C-can you take her while I chow down?”

Jessica nodded, gently taking Sasha from Ashley’s chest, wrapping her up in a blanket and taking a seat on the bench, shushing the fussing baby.

Ashley and Chris ate the poor quality hospital food before all of them tried to get some sleep.

The next morning, Ashley sent out a text to the Blackwood group announcing the arrival of Sasha Adelyn Hartley. The first one to come visit was Mike and Mila. 

He knocked, walking in with Mila’s car seat, “Hey guys, congratulations on the baby.”

“Thanks Mike,” Chris said before giving Sasha to Ashley so they could introduce the two of them.

Ashley laid Sasha on the hospital bed and put on her matching onesie to Mila, “This is the cutest thing ever.”

They laid Mila down beside her, “Mila looks so big compared to her. It looks like she could eat her.”

Ashley laughed before taking some pictures of them in the matching onesies, Sasha began to cry and Mila looked over at her confused before starting to cry herself.

“Picture time over,” Jess said, picking up Mila and shushing her.

Ashley picked up Sasha and did the same. Mike and Jess eventually left the three of them. It was a while before Sam and Emily came.

“Guys she’s so small,” Sam said cooing over the baby.

Emily agreed, “She’s adorable. I can’t wait to give her the best clothes a girl can have.”

Ashley laughed, “I’m sure you will.”

After they took turns holding her, Sam got up, “Well I’m going to have lunch with Stephanie.”

“Who is Stephanie?”

“The waitress from Cheesecake Factory. We’re kind of a thing now.”

Emily’s face lit up, “Really?!”

Sam nodded, “Yeah. It’s been great, but I don’t wanna keep her waiting.”

Sam left and shortly after so did Emily. There was a small knock and Diana walked in wearing her scrubs.

“I just was heading to work when you called me and I just got a chance to sneak away. I can’t believe I’m a grandma!”

Chris nodded, “Do you want to hold her before you have to go back?”

Diana smiled, “of course I do. She’s my first grand baby.”

He handed the sleeping infant to his mom, “There you go.”

She smiled, tearing up, “She’s so precious. Sasha, sweetheart, you are so loved.”

Right as Diana was leaving to go back to work, Josh came in, “Coachise and Smashley have a kid. Who would’ve known that those two awkward nerds in high school would’ve ended up married with a baby. Well, besides me.”

“Hi, Josh,” Ashley smiled, “Do you want to hold her?”

“Probably not until she’s bigger. Newborns freak me out, but I brought,” he walked out into the hallway and came back holding a _massive_ teddy bear and a whole bunch of balloons.

Chris laughed, “I was waiting for that. Never let anyone tell you that you half-ass stuff.”

“Anyone who’s spent more than 5 minutes with him knows he doesn’t, I don’t think that’s something you need to worry about.”

Before long it was just them again. Their first real day as parents.


	16. The Holiday

Christmas morning at the Hartley house was different that Christmas had been in the past. Usually Ashley and Chris would go over to his mom’s house first thing in the morning where they’d eat breakfast and then open presents. This year, however, Diana came to them because it was easier for her to bring over her presents than it was for them to pack up Sasha.

Ashley was awake at 6am when Diana knocked on the front door. She took Sasha in her arms and went to let her in, “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas to you guys as well. How’s my grandbaby doing?”

Ashley smiled, “She’s doing good. She actually slept a decent amount last night so that’s good. She’s almost sleeping the whole night.”

“I’m so proud of you Sasha!” Diana pinched at the infant’s leg as she walked in, setting her presents down under the tree.

Ashley closed the door behind Diana and turned her attention to the kitchen, “Do you want to make breakfast? Or should I?”

“You can do it, I’ll take her off your hands,” she reached out to take Sasha.

“Thank you,” Ashley handed the baby off, “Would you grab Chris, too? He fell back asleep most likely.”

Diana nodded as Ashley walked into the kitchen and pulled out the ingredients for her favorite pancakes. After blending up the mix, she pulled out a pan and greased it before pouring some batter.

“Good morning, beautiful,” Chris said, groggily walking into the kitchen, “I definitely need coffee.”

He walked over, planting a kiss on her forehead before grabbing a keurig pod and putting it in the coffee machine and waiting for it to brew.

“Merry Christmas, Chris. Breakfast will be ready in a little bit.”

He nodded, leaning against the counter waiting for his coffee to be done. One it sputtered out the last of the coffee he grabbed the mug, “It smells delicious. Do you need help?”

“No, but thanks.”  
“You’re welcome,” he said, taking his coffee and walking out to the living room.

Ashley finished the pancakes along with scrambled eggs and bacon. She set everything on the small table they have inside their kitchen and hollered out to the others, “Breakfast is ready!”

Diana and Chris came in, the former of whom setting Sasha in her high chair, “It looks amazing. You did great, Ash.”

Ashley smiled, “I hope it tastes alright.”

“I’m sure it will, you’re a wonderful cook.”

They took their seats at the table and began to eat the breakfast she had prepared. Chris nodded, “My compliments to the chef, this is so yummy.”

“Thanks babe.”

Once they had finished the food, it was time for presents. They moved out to the living room, Ashley and Sasha taking a seat on the couch beside Diana while Chris passed out the gifts.

The first present that Ashley opened was from Chris, it was a jewelry box, “What’s this?”

She opened the box and saw a ring that was an exact replica of the wedding band she had on her hand, “A-another one?”  
“To balance the other side. I read that you typically get a 3rd ring when you have a baby so consider it a late push present.”

“Push present? That’s actually a thing?” She chuckled.

Diana nodded, “They are. Personally I think it’s cute, but not everyone does it.”

“Here, let me help you put it on,” he grabbed the ring from the box and slid it on the other side of her engagement ring, creating a trio of rings on her finger.

“It’s gorgeous, thanks Chris.”

“No problem, it’s the least I could do for giving me the gift of our precious daughter.”

Diana smiled, “Precious she is. Chris, why don’t you open one of her presents?”

“Sure.”

Chris picked up a present that was labeled to Sasha from Diana and opened it up. It was a teething ring along with a pack of bibs, “You’ll thank me later. Better to be prepared than be stuck with tons of drool all over everything all the time.”

“Thanks mom,” Ashley smiled.

The rest of the day was spent opening presents and enjoying each other's company. This was just the start of many happy Hartley Christmas mornings.


End file.
